Supporters of the Affordable Care Act argue that it will help reduce costs by encouraging healthier behavior among consumers, who will subsequently suffer fewer costly and debilitating medical problems in later years.
The Affordable Care Act also prevents discrimination against those with preexisting conditions and assists Americans in finding affordable coverage through exchanges. Furthermore, it increases screening services available and lowers cost sharing for certain services.
1. Increased Taxes
Prior to the ACA, insurance companies often refused to cover certain services like pregnancy care or prescription drugs or charged exorbitant prices for them. Now, however, due to this law these practices are prohibited and all businesses with over 50 employees must provide health coverage or face a tax penalty penalty.
The ACA includes numerous taxes that target high earners, large corporations and industries that make money off healthcare – the Joint Committee on Taxation has identified 21 such increases that total nearly one trillion dollars.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that repealing the Affordable Care Act would increase taxes by an estimated total of $240 billion over 10 years and increase the deficit by $1.8 trillion – this could damage both small business and the overall economy.
2. Unaffordable Health Care
The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, mandates all Americans have health insurance or pay penalty taxes. Furthermore, lifetime and annual limits on coverage are prohibited and plans must cover 10 essential benefits; this helps lower overall healthcare costs by encouraging people to seek treatment early before conditions worsen.
Obamacare provides many advantages to Americans. For one thing, it makes purchasing private plans more accessible through health insurance marketplaces; allows young adults to remain on their parents’ plan until the age of 26; gives states power to reject unreasonable premium increases; and empowers states with the ability to reject unreasonable premium increases. Today, Biden-Harris administration proposed rule to strengthen Obamacare by fixing family glitch, saving many families hundreds each month.
3. No Pre-Existing Condition Coverage
Before the Affordable Care Act was in place, health insurers could deny coverage to many applicants; exclude certain body parts and systems from policies; charge significantly higher premiums; or exclude preexisting conditions from coverage altogether, leaving millions uninsured or under-insured.
The Affordable Care Act put an end to that by prohibiting insurers from denying anyone coverage or charging more for existing health conditions, prohibiting lifetime and annual dollar limits on coverage, and mandating that 80 percent of premium dollars be allocated towards medical care rather than advertising, overhead expenses or executive bonuses.
Many proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act contain language permitting health insurers to offer plans that do not adhere to its regulations for guaranteed issue, preexisting condition exclusions, community rating and actuarial value.
4. Health Insurance Exchanges
Health insurance exchanges are a key part of the Affordable Care Act and their purpose is to maximize value for consumers by selecting plans based on various factors including cost and quality.
Exchanges also aim to curb healthcare fraud and uncompensated care, oversee insurance premiums and practices, encourage comparison shopping to increase market transparency and competition and facilitate comparison shopping for better pricing in the marketplace.
They require that insurance companies spend 80% of your premium dollars on actual medical care and quality improvements instead of advertising, overhead expenses, or bonuses for executives. In addition, they have removed annual and lifetime cap benefits as well as eliminated the tax penalty associated with not having insurance; yet some people may still find marketplace health coverage unaffordable.
5. Discrimination
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), no individual can be excluded from or denied benefits in any health program or activity that receives federal financial assistance on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender disability age or sexual orientation. This provision, known as SS1557 is one of the broadest anti-discrimination provisions found within US civil rights law.
Before Obamacare was passed into law, insurance companies would often refuse coverage to those with preexisting conditions and charge exorbitant prices for those who were eligible. Now that’s forbidden.
The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed new regulations that will restore and strengthen protections, thus expanding access to unbiased health care for millions of Americans. They aim to promote equity while clarifying legal obligations among providers, employers and covered entities.
