Paper Article

Obamacare, will repealing help or complicate things

By: Seth Easter 2/15/16

The repeal of Obamacare may take until 2018 or later to accomplish but, there are plans in place that will attempt to make it more affordable for the general public. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a required purchase for people who can’t get private insurance or state help. This has lead to people going without insurance and having fines to pay that they can’t afford.

The new administration under President Trump is looking to reform the healthcare program so that it can benefit the general populace without dropping the program entirely.

According to Amelia Verde(assumed name, BlueCross and BlueShield) Obamacare was a disaster for the companies that offered it and it caused huge financial losses for them.

Verde said, “People will take out insurance for their major surgeries and then drop their coverage without paying their premium. The premium would be about $300 for a $100,000 surgery.” In North Carolina BlueCross BlueShield is now the only provider for Obamacare and this has caused major losses for them.

“I don’t qualify for anything” said Susan Easter. “The only way I can get help is if a doctor gives me a hand out.” As a single mother with only a part-time job this affects Easter greatly.

Her children have Medicaid since her husband died from ALS, a degenerative muscle disease, but she herself is unable to gain help from the state because she makes $60 too much for Medicaid but at the same time, too little to qualify for Obamacare. This leaves Easter with a fine for not having insurance.

Betty Trowler (assumed name) said “It’s crazy for people to be penalized for not having insurance.” Trowler thinks it’s a great idea to repeal at least part of the ACA and not have insurance as a requirement.

Never having been without insurance, Trowler finds it hard to imagine going without it but at the same time finds it absurd that it would be required.

Having insurance as a job benefit has been a plus for Trowler and she believes that it should be a national benefit as long as you work full-time.

Having to pay more on her part so that others can have their insurance paid for is not high on Trowler’s list of to-do’s. She believes people should work for it.

The ACA, if repealed altogether, would leave almost 6 million people without insurance. The new administration is looking to only reform particular parts of Obamacare so that it would help a greater number of people.

Facts presented by the Congressional Budget Office in a summary points to the conclusion that repealing the ACA in its entirety could have negative effects on the nation. “The number of people who are uninsured would increase by 18 million in the first new plan year following enactment of the bill.”

Supposedly by 2026 the numbers could rise up to 32 million uninsured people. With current laws private insurance purchased directly could go up by 20 percent and premiums could double.

While these are the possible negatives provided there would be the positive of not paying a fine and insurance not being a requirement.