Insurance Coverage and the Uninsured, Coursework Example

There has been a debate in America about the coverage of health costs for uninsured citizens. The Affordable Care Act (2010) has expanded the exemption criteria for people who can receive discounted cover in order to increase the rate of population covered through health insurance. The below review will analyze the main concepts and debates related to the issue.

Gruber (2008) states that the number of uninsured people reached 47 million in America by 2008, approximately 18 percent of the population below retirement age. During the Clinton administration, plans to create universal health coverage were created, but did not succeed. Barack Obama’s new Affordable Care act created the greatest political debate in the 21^st century.

Blubmerg (2012) lists several debates related to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). First of all, some authors state that having health insurance does not improve overall health outcomes, and costs the federal government too much. Others, however, state that as the rate of employer sponsored health insurance continuously declined in the past decade, it was the government’s responsibility to look after those who were unable to get coverage through work and could not afford buying it on their own.

There is an important argument that Gruber makes regarding people who are uninsured. The author (Gruber, 2008, p. 575) states that “e. Not all the uninsured are poor, however: 20 percent of the uninsured are in families with incomes above $50,000 per year”. This indicates that some people simply choose not to get an insurance; one of the reasons for this that the author lists is the overpricing of the products by companies.

In order to fully understand the debate about expanding cover and exemptions is to look at the answer to the question: “who pays for the health care of the uninsured”? It is evident that the cost of coverage will be provided by the federal budget through Medicaid, and this means that all taxpayers need to pay for uninsured people’s cover. This is one of the major arguments the opponents of the Affordable Care Act make.

References

Blumberg, L. (2012) The Affordable Care Act: What does it do for low-income families? Institute for Research on Poverty. No 15-2002

Gruber, J. (2008) Covering the uninsured in the United States. Journal of Economic Literature 2008, 46:3, 571–606