In the advent of growing pressures to improve healthcare by promoting care delivery and reducing costs, Congress is reshaping the healthcare policy of the Affordable Care Act by repealing and replacing it. ACA changed the healthcare landscape by expanding access to care and making insurances more affordable to Americans. The eligibility for Medicaid increased as unemployed individuals were enabled to directly buy covers that have premium subsidies. However, despite increasing the number of insured, the overall healthcare costs increased and putting pressures on legislators to reduce the expenditures ( Obama, 2017) . Currently, the government is seeking alternative ways of modifying the law instead of repealing it in order not to reduce the number of insured Americans. For instance, the government would replace Medicaid with a single payer system or other measures that would expand new marketplaces of insurances.
ACA uses the carrot and sticks approach to meet their intended goals. The carrot approach offers tax credits to low-income earners who purchase insurances. Largest amounts are provided to them as opposed to high-earners. On the other hand, the stick approach requires those who have no insurance to pay fines which is costly than buying the health coverage at a rate of $695 per adult and $347.5 per child ( Obama, 2017). However, opponents argue that the individual mandate is intrusive and adding burdens to those who cannot afford to buy anything for themselves.
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Even though promoting enrollment is important, the government should find out other ways of taking care of the needy in the society who cannot afford basic needs. Therefore, the initiatives should be redirected towards amending the policy rather than completely repealing the act (Carroll & Jacobson, 2017). As seen in the above picture, it remains critical for policymakers to consider the plight of everyone given the immense benefits ACA has brought to a majority of Americans.
References
Carroll, L. & Jacobson, L. (2017). Is the Fight to Repeal and Replace the Affordable Act Dead? PolitiFact. Retrieved from https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/mar/29/fight-repeal-and-replace-affordable-care-act-dead/
Obama, B. H. (2017). Repealing the ACA without a replacement—the risks to American health care. New England Journal of Medicine , 376 (4), 297-299.
