Benefits of the Affordable Care Act
BENEFITS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Abhay Oberoi
Bryant University
Public Finance
04/07/2017
INTRODUCTION.
The Affordable Care Act, which the Republican-controlled Congress and Donald Trump wants to repeal;
Was created to solve two basic problems in United States health care system:
Skewed costs of health care and asymmetric information by patients (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2015).
Patients have more information about their health status than insurers.
Skewed health care costs have made spending in healthcare expensive, and ACA was crafted to cure this (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2015).
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has completely revolutionized the health care system in the United States (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2015). The ACA, which the Republican-Controlled Congress and President Donald Trump have vowed to repeal has significantly reduced the costs of health care and increased the number of Americans under health insurance.
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BENEFITS OF THE ACT
Puts more money in families’ pockets; boosting demand, and brings down unemployment today.
By January 2014, over two million people had chosen a plan in health insurance market.
80 percent of these people benefits from tax credits to pay premiums thanks to ACA (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2015).
In 2014, over 5 million people benefited from premium tax credits.
This helped with cost sharing at an average of 4, 700 dollars per person (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2015).
11 million people are estimated to have benefited from ACA, with the figure projected at 19 million last year.
These financial provisions of the act have made it easier for families, especially in low-income brackets to access health care services and to meet their pressing needs concerning healthcare (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2015). Through the expansion of Medicaid, many Americans from low-income backgrounds are expected to gain affordable health insurance coverage. Because of the increased demand for health care services, goods and services, unemployment rates have been decreasing.
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