The Passage of Health Care Reform (Obamacare) and its Implications for the US

A Step towards Universal Healthcare

The passage of the Health Care Reform Act of 2010 also known as Obamacare because of the championship of the act by President Obama, allows the United States to move closer towards the goal of universal health care for its citizens.

The key aspect about Obamacare is that it increases the ambit of health insurance for its citizens by bringing more number of people into the coverage of insurance and other provisions. The passage of Obamacare also means that Americans will now have the option of talking medical insurance at a reduced cost instead of the now prevailing practice of exorbitant premiums.

However, the Health Care Reform or HCR as it is also known has not given the citizens of the US a single payer option or the public option that would have meant that more subsidies would have been made available to them.

Instead, the HCR is mostly a long bill that contains several provisions that provide for future based scenarios by bringing in a majority of Americans if not all into the ambit of health insurance. This by itself is a remarkable achievement since not all Americans are presently covered by medical insurance.

What No Other President Could Do

The HCR or Obamacare as it is known has become a landmark achievement of President Obama and his administration as he succeeded in the endeavor to bring millions of poor and less privileged Americans into the ambit of health insurance. This task has eluded presidents since Roosevelt dating back to the times of the Second World War Indeed; even President Clinton tried his best to pass health care reform but was stymied in his efforts.

This is the reason President Obama is credited to have done something that most presidents have failed. The passage of the HCR signals the intentions of the Democratic Party to broaden the goals of social justice and social welfare, which is anyway their aim since most working class Americans, immigrants, and other less privileged sections form part of their constituent base.

By appealing to their fundamental notions of providing for health care and that too at an affordable cost, the Obamacare has proven to be successful in ensuring another term for President Obama.

Implications for the Future

Before we consider the implications of the HCR, it must be noted that the United States is one of a few countries in the developed west not to have medical care that is free or subsidized for most of its citizens.

In most other countries of the west, medical care is either state subsidized or available at a fraction of the cost that it takes in the US. This is the reason for the HCR to become a landmark bill that would affect nearly every poor American as he or she would be able to have access to medical attention at an affordable cost and not be at the mercy of private insurers who charge them exorbitant premiums.

As mentioned earlier, though the HCR in its present form still requires Americans to buy insurance from private insurers, it guarantees state subsidies in the process that would go a long way in assuaging the concerns of the poor.

Further, with the passage of HCR, Americans are at last in the club of western nations where health care is made universal and affordable to all. This is the reason that the passage of the HCR if sustained by succeeding administrations would result in the American poor finally finding their medical expenses lesser and medical attention cheaper.

Concluding Remarks

Though this article has discussed the advantages and some shortcomings of the HCR, it must be noted that the Republican Party is doing everything in its power to stall the implementation of the Act. Th

present situation has become so absurd that the Republicans not content with taking the case to the Supreme Court and having lost have tried more than a hundred times to get the act repealed. This alone shows the importance of the HCR for the wellbeing of the poor and the less privileged that the Democratic base is made up of.


❮❮   Previous Next   ❯❯

Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written By “Prachi Juneja” and Reviewed By Management Study Guide Content Team. MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider. To Know more, click on About Us. The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.


Globalization