Barack Obamas Plans to Reform Health Care System - Research Paper Example

07 June Barack Obama’s plans to reform health care system Introduction In America the topic of Barack Obama’s plans to reform health care system is very relevant. New political fashion dictates new fashion: one can see thousands of people blocking the city, colorful and bold posters. This emotional attack against Barack Obama is provoked by healthcare reform. The new slogan “Its a lie” is born on the day when Obama holds a speech before Congress. "There are some who argue that health care reform would allow illegal immigrants to get insurance. This is not true, " - says Barack Obama. "Its a lie!" – someone shouts from the audience. The evidence of the soreness of health care reform in the United States is the fact that never before the president has been given the bird under the dome of the Capitol, besides a majority of senators and congressmen belong to Barack Obama’s party. So what is so annoying about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bill? After all, the president suggests, firstly, improving the conditions of health insurance for those who have insurance available, having limited the arbitrariness of insurance companies. Secondly, creating a stock exchange for the insurers, which will, according to Obama, bring down the price of insurance. Thirdly, introducing compulsory health insurance similar to auto insurance in order for insured Americans are not paying for those who have no policy. According to Richard Lugar, "the plan suggested by Mr. Obama, is contrary to his pledge not to sign a bill that would increase the budget deficit. This reform would ultimately cost hundreds of billions of dollars. We can undertake a reform that would have a neutral impact on deficits, but this will be an entirely different document" (Johnson, 2000, p.1) Why is it necessary to introduce the new healthcare system? What are the weak points of the present one? First, health insurance is rather an expensive pleasure, and if your employer does not pay for you, it is almost inaccessible. Secondly, the insurance covers not everything. If you are ill, a company can refuse to insure you at all, or terminate the policy before a costly cancer surgery. Thirdly, the coverage almost never includes services of optician or dentist. The visit to the dentist can cost thousands of dollars, attempting to put the seal for free you need to register in advance, plus a doctor takes every six months. Of course, you can save but for this you have to be young and healthy. Michael Franc, vice president of the American Foundation “Heritage”, said: “they’ve decided for me what insurance company should do, how much money I have to pay for medical insurance. They’ll take more money if i smoke but they won’t raise prices if i eat much fat food, suffer from obesity, drink and do not go in for sport. Healthy way of life is not taken into account” (Johnson, 2000, p.1) Spending on health is almost up to 20% of U.S. GDP, the USA spends on health care more than all other countries in the whole world, while occupying the 37th position on the level of medical care. These astronomical sums are spent on government programs Medicare (for aged people) and Medicaid (for children from poor families, pregnant women, disabled). However, 50 million Americans out of 300 are not insured! Presidential initiatives have been perceived with hostility, they provoke great political battle that is lost by Obama for now. He has to travel about the country and persuade at rallies that reform in this form is viable. “It is too late to dump all to the predecessor’s mistakes”, epitomizes John Bolton, George Bushs closest ally, Washington "hawk" in the resignation. According to John Bolton, "Obama is still working, as if participating in the presidential race. He remains a senator. It is difficult to turn from the legislator into the manager- its a different level of responsibility. If he does not adapt in the nearest future, his popularity will become even lower" (cited in Roberts, 2010, p.1). Having reached its peak in January, the popularity of Obama glides down - the relevant data is given by sociologists from the company Gullup. And a sociological service Rasmusen calculates that in early August, the rating will cross a psychological barrier - below 50%. At the same time most of US policymakers underline the necessity to change the old American healthcare system. It has been existed since the very beginning of the USA but in new time realities it proves to be inefficient. Most Americans (around 85%) get healthcare insurance from their employers. For average American family healthcare insurance costs approximately $12.000 annually but this price varies significantly. Part of this insurance coverage price is paid by the employee and the size of the paid portion depends on the employer’s generosity. At the same time about 47 million of U.S. population does not have healthcare insurance coverage at all. And another 25 million are the so called “underinsured” which means that they do not have enough insurance coverage to satisfy their needs. Not only Barack Obama, but many other influential policymakers claim that this situation is a shame for the USA and it should be changed as soon as possible. So what is the president hoping to change and which aims is he going to achieve by moving to a new healthcare system? The main goal is simplifying the process, making it transparent, clear and fair for all the citizens and reducing the costs spent for healthcare by each American citizen. The biggest problem in the USA related to the healthcare is when you lose your job you lose your health insurance. And furthermore, having medical condition means that you won’t be able to get healthcare insurance coverage. Many insurance companies in the USA act extremely unfair towards their clients – they do not pay the money hoping that their poor ill clients will lose their patience and stop navigating the red tape trying to get the money the companies owe to them. Such inhuman practices demoralize people suffering from diseases. This is what president Obama is hoping to eliminate. To compete with private insurance agencies President Obama and other liberals pushed insurance plan for a government. And this became the stumbling block in attempt to reach a compromise. The main argument of the insurers is that they are not able to compete with insurance companies subsidized and supported by taxpayers. Obama’s initiative they view as a stupid idea aiming to bankrupt them and found a single-payer system, similar to that of the Canadian healthcare system. From Obama’s point of view, his healthcare initiative is just an attempt to bring some competition into the system of healthcare insurance in order to lower prices for healthcare insurance coverage. So, if presidential initiatives are really sound and necessary why do they provoke such negative attitude? Most opponents of the new healthcare system belong to small conservative government and they reject any attempts to expand the scope of government’s authorities, particularly in the sphere of healthcare. Other opponents are those who called Obama a Kenyan Muslim “Manchurian candidate” aiming to eliminate personal liberties and institute socialist regime. Here we should again mention private insurance agencies paying to mass media to highlight healthcare problems in Canada and Great Britain, thus scaring people. Another cause for people’s panic about new healthcare system was given by Sarah Palin. Her claim was in regard with an attempt to push a proposal about panels of medical experts whos task would be to assist in making decisions regarding corresponding levels of healthcare insurance coverage in some specific cases. This proposal was interpreted as Obama’s deny giving coverage to some types of patients thus dooming them to death. Conclusion The presidents health care reform actually split American society into two camps. According to opinion polls, held this spring, 49% of Americans supported the law and 40% of respondents were opposed. And although Obama has announced unconditional support for its reform in U.S. courts, the Court of Virginia held that the congressmen overstepped their authority. Judge Henry Hudson decided that one of the key points of the law, committing to pay a fine anyone who refuses to buy a new health insurance violates the right of Americans to freedom of choice and, therefore, is unconstitutional. References US Census Report: "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States”, 2009, pp 22-28 Johnson, Avery. "Recession swells number of uninsured to 50.7 million". The Wall Street Journal: p. A4, 2010 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704394704575496093363948142.html. Retrieved 2010-11-21. Roberts, Michelle; Rhoades, Jeffrey A. "The uninsured in America, first half of 2009: estimates for the U.S. civilian noninstituionalized population under age 65. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, Statistical Brief #291". Rockville, Md.: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), 2010 http://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/st291/stat291.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-21. "Two myths about the American health care system". Montreal Economic Institute. June 2005. http://www.iedm.org/uploaded/pdf/juin05_en.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-25 Read More