The ACA and rhetoric of its supporters

As the newly installed president of the United States of America, Donald Trump as proven himself to be more than just all talk. Defunding of planned parenthood and tougher abortion laws? Done. Full immigration ban for 120 days? Yup. Oh and you laughed when he brought up the Wall? And, also as promised, the long republican-awaited downfall of the ‘horrendously expensive’ Affordable Care Act is imminent. With the possibility that 18 million Americans could lose coverage with the repeal of the ACA, many are looking to persuade the president to look a little further into Obamacare.

What exactly is Obamacare? It is attempt by former president Barack Obama to accomplish the goal of making health insurance more affordable for those with lower incomes by an increase in taxes to expand government funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid (healthcare.gov). Other things included in the ACA include the ability for children to stay on their parent’s insurance until they are 26 and prevent insurance companies from denying health insurance to an individual because of pre-existing health conditions.

There are some flaws in Obamacare. Even the former commander in chief had this to say at his farewell speech;

“And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we've made to our health care system; I will publicly support it.” (Obama, B. 2017).

Certain aspects that are referred to as flawed are the requirements for businesses to provide some type of insurance if they have a certain amount of full time employees. This caused many small businesses to cut hours or employees to prevent requiring any type of coverage.

While a large number of individuals believe that Obamacare is too expensive, there also exists the belief that it needs to be reformed, not taken down completely. One strong approach that many have taken is playing to the side of desperation. During a town hall meeting with House speaker, Congressman Paul Ryan, a gentleman gave him a story: http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/01/13/paul-ryan-town-hall-obamacare-repeal-sot.cnn. With a powerful experience tied to the importance of Obamacare, this viral town hall speech showed a perfect example to why the ACA should not be repealed.

With certain aspects of universal healthcare already existing in the ACA, many see an opportunity to get one step closer to having a single-payer, government controlled healthcare system. People like Vermont senator Bernie Sanders wants people to know that not only is the Affordable Care Act is important, but that the government show go that step further for a completely universal healthcare system. Him and his supporters argue that an individual has a right to be healthy, regardless of what they make.

As so many people depend on what happens to the ACA, it will be interesting to see if messages like that of Mr. Jeans’ is able to have an impact on the president’s decision to take it down. 

sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000004864201/watch-live-president-obamas-farewell-speech.html

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-care-act/

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/01/13/paul-ryan-town-hall-obamacare-repeal-sot.cnn