The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act play a crucial role in ensuring that all Americans can access quality, affordable healthcare. The Act also creates vital transformations within the healthcare system that will help contain healthcare costs in the United States. The Act will address the rising cost of healthcare by providing oversight of health insurance premiums, emphasizing primary care and effective treatment, and reducing fraud in the healthcare system. The Act has helped millions of Americans saved thousands of lives, and it has also strengthened the American healthcare system (French, Homer, & Gumus, 2016). However, the Act limits the extent to which insurance companies consider age as the primary factor in establishing premiums rates. By limiting the ability of the insurance companies to use age to determine the amount of the premiums, it means that young people will have to pay more premiums in comparison to old individuals. It is essential to ensure that most older people afford to pay premiums, so lowering their rates is necessary. Ensuring that older people have access to insurance is vital to their health because old individuals are prone to old age-associated illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, and many other health complications (Karraker & Latham, 2015). Providing insurance to these vulnerable groups is crucial in ensuring that they afford appropriate treatment to the illnesses improving their general health. I believe that lowering the premiums for older people is essential because they are likely to experience many health issues than young people. It is also crucial to consider that raising the premiums of young people slightly high has no harm because young people can afford to pay the rates since most of them are working. Young people also do not experience many health complications compared to the elderly. Therefore, lowering premium rates for older people is critical in ensuring they can afford the various treatment they need.
References
French, M. T., Homer, J., & Gumus, G. (2016). Key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA): a systematic review and presentation of early research findings. Health services research, 51(5) , 1735-1771.
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Karraker, A., & Latham, K. (2015). In sickness and in health? Physical illness as a risk factor for marital dissolution in later life. Journal of health and social behavior, 56(3) , 420-435.
