Viewpoint Synthesis

Exploration of Obamacare and the Lower Classes

Government healthcare is a heavily debated topic in modern America. For years,

since Obamas presidential promises to provide affordable healthcare to American
citizens, our representatives and population have fought back and forth heavily on
the issue. Now that President Trump has been inaugurated as President of the
United States, the issue is even more relevant through 2017. The GOP is
attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act put in to action under Obamas
administration while the Democrats try to defend it. The opposing viewpoints are
many and the facts and details behind governments role in healthcare are
numerous. From these many issues and the groups of Americans affected by the
ACA, I asked one question in my research: How are the lower classes impacted by
the ACA, and what are the implications of its repeal?
A big debate regarding the economics of America is the massive gap of inequality in
wealth between the poorest and the richest Americans. Because of this, many are
very skeptical of legislation and how it affects the lower classes. A major positive of
Obamacare is the help it provides with these Americans. Obamacare uses taxes on
the upper classes to subsidize healthcare for those less fortunate. With this tax
money, the lower classes are able to afford medical treatment that they may
desperately need. Due to quality of living the lower class are often more in need of
medical treatments meaning that the money taxed from the rich for the lower
classes is often better spent. Additionally, the ACA provides tax cuts based upon
income and age. With these tax cuts, Americans of lower classes in a variety of
ages are allowed to put these savings towards healthcare. The GOPs plan to
change the ACA changes this tax cuts to be based solely on age. This means that a
30-year-old making $30,000 a year would receive the same tax cuts as a 30-year-
old making $150,000 a year. Many argue this is a major detriment to the lower
class. These Americans will be majorly affected in the years of debate to come.
Our government for many years has been criticized for the growing deficit and debt
that has been accumulating. Therefore, any major increase in government
spending comes with a lot of criticism. As Aylene Senger claims in Five Reasons to
Repeal Obamacare: the ACA created $1.8 trillion in new healthcare spending.
While a lot of this money comes from additional taxes, the resulting expenses are
often funded by cuts in other programs. Any further burden that is placed upon the
federal government fiscally adds to the volatility of our current budget. In How
Obamacare fails the poor and middle class, Scott Atlas claims that in 2008 a
shortfall of over $88 billion from Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries added over
$1,500 extra yearly in premiums and $1,800 in total costs to every family of four
with private insurance. This greatly shows the inability of the government to handle
such a task, and we could only expect the problem to get worse as the government
becomes more involved.
A major drawback that has been observed from the implementation of the ACA is
the declining quality and availability of healthcare. Obamacare promises unrealistic
price cuts, which forces healthcare providers to lower the quality of the care they
provide. With less resources flowing in for the providers they are limited in what
they can perform. Additionally, Americans that are signed up with Obamacare are
finding it increasingly difficult to actually find medical providers. A 2014 Merritt
Hawkins study claims that 55% of doctors refused new Medicaid patients. This
becomes a major issue when 71% of the newly insured following Obamacare,
millions of Americans, were provided insurance through Medicaid. On top of this, in
order to justify lower costs, Obamacare limits the number of providers in their
network. With the switch to Obamacare, many Americans find that they cannot see
the same doctors they saw before. A study in 2014 commissioned by the American
Heart Association found that providers able to diagnose and treat stroke are in
shortage under the ACAs plans. Considering that strokes are one of the most
debilitating conditions in America, it is clear to see that Americans are left wanting
when it comes to the availability of proper care.
It is clear from the points provided that this is a complicated issue. From my
research, I saw trends and certain facts consistently presented throughout the
differing viewpoints. It seems all sides have valid claims while certain beliefs or
figures make them differ from one another. A consistent claim that was made was
the effect on the rich from the repeal of Obamacare. One of Obamacares main
functions is the taxing of money from the rich to subsidize the poors health care
and tax cuts. The simple fact of this legislation being repealed results in tax cuts for
the rich. This is not even considering standardization of tax cuts across all ages
despite income. Additionally, a consistent claim that is made involves the financial
burden that will be imposed on the lower classes if Obamacare is replaced with the
current plan. Most all of the research I found agreed that the poor may end up
seeing less tax cuts and higher premiums from the repeal of Obamacare. However,
this is justified by another byproduct of Obamacare: failing quality and availability of
healthcare. Cheap premiums and tax cuts mean nothing if the healthcare provided
to the lower classes doesnt actually help them receive treatment. While most
agree that millions of Americans received coverage under the ACA, it is not the
coverage that they really need. The lower class are often most in need of medical
treatments, meaning that the poor quality of treatments they end up receiving
under Obamacare does not help them. After my research and deliberation, I find
myself somewhere in the middle of the debate. I believe that Americans do need
affordable access to healthcare but what they are currently provided does not fit the
bill. The government majorly fails those that they assist in providing coverage and
the American people need access to private healthcare if they want to be properly
treated.