Health Insurance Reform Case Study

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Health insurance reform has been a subject of hot political debate since at least the early 20th century in the United States. The main focus of the argument has essentially boiled down to access to health care and who will pay for this access. The culmination of these long fought efforts has been President Obama's recently enacted Affordable Healthcare Act, which provides increased access to health care for women, young adults, and seniors especially. The provisions of the law now makes sure that insurers can no longer put a lifetime cap on how much care they will pay or cancel coverage when there is a mistake on paperwork. Starting in 2014, health insurers will be prohibited from charging more because the beneficiary is a woman. Under the…show more content…
This mass expansion of health care in America must have an effect on utilization, but this effect is not yet known and is subject to vast speculation and controversy. Many people fear that the system will become overloaded and that Americans will be forced to get on waiting lists for care or perhaps deal with providers that are chosen for them. Due to the fact that the reforms force Americans that can afford health care to buy in, however, there will likely be less people cramming emergency rooms seeking free care. Perhaps the most important change in utilization forecast is the shift from treatment of disease to preventative care. The reforms and expansion of health insurance and specials provisions relating to preventative care are designed to get Americans to think about preventing disease before it happens. The idea is to drive down costs by avoiding expensive treatments for serious disease and to improve the overall health of a vast majority of Americans. There is no doubt that prevention is cheaper than treatment, and the reforms present in the Affordable Healthcare Act are meant to get Americans used to utilizing preventative measures in order to stay out of hospitals and emergency…show more content…
For many years, I did not have health insurance, as I was too old to continue on my parents' policy and could not yet afford premiums on my own. Therefore I was at risk for years of falling through the cracks in case of a health emergency. Thus, the expansion of health care to younger Americans is a encouraging sign, although I am now too old to take advantage of the expansion. I have private health insurance now, and despite the promise of reigned in premiums in the long term as a result of health care reform, right now I am witnessing what seems like last minute premium hikes by nervous insurance companies. My guess is that the insurance companies are hiking rates now before all of the terms of the Affordable Healthcare Act are fully instituted. I do, however, look forward to the other reforms present in the act, such as the guarantee of health care for those with pre-existing disease and the expansion of preventative care. As I get older, I am sure these reforms will benefit me, my family, and the level of care that we

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