Obamacare, Research Paper Example

Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Healthcare Act (AHA) was signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Obamacare is expected to fully roll out over more than four years (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). Obamacare could be considered as an example of universal healthcare system which is prevalent in many other developed countries including U.K. and Canada (Klein), thus, U.S. has mostly been an exception rather than the norm among developed countries. Even though Obamacare is the law of the land, it continues to attract significant controversy and the recent problems in initial implementation including online enrollment have not helped the case for Obamacare. But Obamacare should be proceeded with anyways because the cumulative benefits of universal healthcare system to the U.S. will far outweigh any potential costs.

In order to debate the merits of Obamacare, it is important to understand some of the major features of the law. First of all, health plan coverage cannot be denied to anyone under the age of 19 due to a pre-existing condition. Americans can continue to be covered under their parents’ plan until the age of 26. Americans can also appeal if the insurance provider may have denied certain payments. Obamacare also eliminates lifetime limits on most benefits under insurance plans. Insurance companies are also required to justify any unreasonable rate increases. Americans may also qualify for certain preventive health services for free (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).

There are several legal and ethical issues that may be considered while evaluating the merits of the law. One of the ethical questions is whether government has a responsibility to provide healthcare or healthcare is a private good that should only be available to those who can afford it. The U.S. is a free market economy and the healthcare industry is also mostly private in the U.S. The ethical question is whether Obamacare is good for the society or government involvement in the healthcare sector will impose greater costs on the society through less efficient healthcare sector. Similarly, Obamacare has also been questioned on legal grounds as if it is constitutional. But after legal, ethical, economic, and social factors have been evaluated, it is apparent that Obamacare is good for the country and its benefits will far outweigh any potential costs, especially in the long-term.

There is little argument that private sector is usually more efficient than the public sector but the factors that promote efficiency such as competition, fair business practices, and consumer power have to be present. The U.S. healthcare sector has mostly been a private sector industry through its history but the statistics do not demonstrate that private sector has done a good job of ensuring high healthcare standards in the U.S. The U.S. healthcare system doesn’t lag behind anyone when it comes to innovation and quality of physicians yet the U.S. largely private healthcare system has done a poor job of dealing with preventable illnesses which account for nearly 90 percent of all healthcare costs. The country spends more on healthcare than any other country yet its citizens lag behind in terms of health metrics than many other countries. The country spends more than $1 trillion on healthcare yet 16 percent of its population is without health insurance and the rate rises to 25 percent when underinsured are included (Sullivan). Private sector is supposed to be more efficient in terms of meeting market’s needs but the sheer number of uninsured in the U.S. indicates that one or more of the factors that drive higher performance standards in the private sector may be missing in the U.S. healthcare system. Such factors may include lack of adequate competition among different healthcare stakeholders such as health service providers and insurance companies and lack of government oversight which probably leads to unethical business practices such as price-fixing.

Some have criticized Obamacare as a form of socialism but such criticism takes a very narrow view of reality. The reality is that even the freest economies may have some elements of socialism because private sector is mostly driven by profit maximization. As a result, it will not provide services where there is not potential for high returns even if it helps advance the overall interests of the society. When we think of such services, we often think of security by law enforcement officials and education. Like education and food, healthcare is a basic human right which should be available to everyone irrespective of their economic means. Other countries such as U.K. and Canada who provide universal healthcare to their citizens are not categorized as socialist countries because most of the world has come to subscribe to the notion that healthcare is a right and not a luxury. U.S. has already experimented with private healthcare system and the sheer number of uninsured means it has not been much successful. Thus, it is fair to give chance to Obamacare which is expected to cover all of the uninsured citizens of the country.

Obamacare will also be good for the country because many of the expected benefits are hard to quantify. More people under the insurance system means the average health standards among the citizens will improve which should translate to greater productivity at workplaces as well as fewer missed work days. It will also lead to lower per capita healthcare costs due to emphasis on preventive healthcare. Congressional Budget Office estimated that Obamacare will lower deficit by $109 billion over the next decade (Kohn). It will also encourage an average citizen to take better care of his/her health due to lower cost concerns. Similarly, it may also be good for the healthcare industry itself as more people will enter the insurance pool. This should help insurance providers to benefit from economies of scale and if Australia’s experience is any indication, healthcare system would become even more innovative (Griffiths).

Critics who claim government intervention in the healthcare sector will introduce inefficiencies and increase average healthcare costs ignore the fact that the healthcare system is already highly inefficient and the average healthcare costs have been higher than they should have been. Famous management guru Michael E. Porter addressed many of these inefficiencies in an article co-written for Harvard Business Review. One of the reasons U.S. healthcare system didn’t behavior like a typical private sector industry was that competition was low due to many artificial barriers as insurance providers and healthcare companies ruled over specific geographical territories. Insurance providers have traditional discouraged customers to go to healthcare providers outside the network even if they may be more effective as well as cheaper. In fact, physicians who would make out-of-network referrals in the best interests of the patients would be penalized by the insurance companies (Porter and Teisberg). Thus, greater government intervention may be beneficial because of the greater negotiating power of the U.S. Government on behalf of the American people. It is also hoped that the greater insight by the U.S Government may help curb unethical and monopolistic business practices among insurance providers.

As we consider the ethical and legal questions considered earlier in the paper, it is apparent that Obamacare fulfills the ethical and legal standards. There should be no question left regarding the constitutionality of Obamacare as the highest court of the land, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2012 that Obamacare doesn’t violate any constitutional rule or right (Sorrell). Obamacare is also ethical because it will help improve the average healthcare standards in the society and will especially benefit those who cannot affordable healthcare or are living with pre-existing conditions that lead to systematic discrimination by insurance companies. It is also ethical because it recognizes the notion that healthcare is a basic right that should be available to everyone.

As a private citizen of the U.S. as well as someone who hopes to become a pharmacist one day, I believe Obamacare is best for the country. I believe that the opposition is primarily coming from private healthcare players who may see some of their pricing power eroded as well as politicians who receive generous donations from the healthcare industry. The critics have been unfairly arousing fears through using terms that have generally negative connotations in American society such as ‘socialism’ when the reality is that many government-supported services such as Medicare and free public education would also qualify as ‘socialism’ under the same criteria. I closely follow news and trends and I believe Obamacare is also needed in light of the current and emerging trends. First of all, U.S. population is aging which means more and more people will need healthcare services to live healthier. In addition, average age spans have been increasing and Obamacare acknowledges this fact by eliminating lifetime limits on certain benefits. I also believe that the healthcare quality will actually improve because there will be greater competition among insurance providers and physicians that have generally been shielded from closer scrutiny due to lack of government participation in the healthcare sector. And if some are still concerned, they should look to lessons from all over the world including those which have quite similar economic systems to the U.S.

Obamacare may have been due to rocky start as recent problems with enrollment indicate but similar issues also occurred when other countries such as Australia implemented universal healthcare system. It is a huge initiative and things will improve over time. Obamacare will overall be good for the society because it will improve average health standards among citizens, will promote preventive health habits, and will also lead to more productive workforce. It may even improve healthcare sector through greater competition as well as greater economies of scale.

Works Cited

Griffiths, Andrew. Chill Out, Entrepreneurs: Obamacare Will Be Good For The Economy . 10 October 2013. 30 November 2013 <http://www.inc.com/andrew-griffiths/chill-out-entrepreneurs.html>.

Klein, Ezra. When it comes to healthcare, the U.S., Britain and Canada are hurting. 7 April 2009. 30 November 2013 <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/07/opinion/oe-klein7>.

Kohn, Sally. 6 other Obamacare promises – and these are very much coming true. 4 November 2013. 30 November 2013 <http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/04/news/economy/obamacare-kept-promises/>.

Porter, Michael E. and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg. “Redefining Competition in Healthcare.” Harvard Business Review June 2004: 65-76.

Sorrell, Jeanne Merkle. Ethics: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Ethical Perspectives in 21st Century Health Care. 9 November 2012. 30 November 2013 <http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/Columns/Ethics/Patient-Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act-Ethical-Perspectives.html>.

Sullivan, Dennis. The Ethics of Obamacare: A Post-election Perspective. 28 November 2012. 30 November 2013 <http://www.cedarville.edu/Offices/Public-Relations/CampusNews/2012/The-Ethics-of-Obamacare-A-Postelection-Perspective.aspx>.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. About the Law. 30 November 2013 <http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/>.

Key Features of the Affordable Care Act. 30 November 2013 <http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/>.