Currently, the primary issue being debated across the United States in the healthcare system is whether to repeal or entirely replace the Affordable Care Act of 2010, popularly referred to as “Obama care." It is now two years since the Trump administration took over for the previous administration that came up with the act. The act remains an active critical law in the United States, although the Republican administration with its lawmakers have changed parts of the act through regulatory, legal, legislative and budgetary actions (Berwick, 2017) . This paper will consider the two competing solutions to this issue of the Affordable Care Act and evaluate which of the two is preferable.
The Affordable Care Act that was enacted in 2010 under the Obama administration dramatically brought a lot of changes to the healthcare system in the United States (Hussey, 2018) . The main objectives of the act were to lower the rate of uninsured citizens, to make healthcare affordable as well as expand the access to quality healthcare for all citizens. To achieve its goals, the act extended eligibility in Medicaid and established new markets where individuals who have not been covered by their employer can be able to buy insurance policies from the insurers directly. Adults were required to either have coverage or pay a heavy fine. Citizens with moderate income were to receive subsidies to allow them to buy insurance policies in the new markets.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The act has encountered strong criticism and opposition since its inception in 2010, especially from the Republicans. Debates across the nation have increased with calls for the law to be repealed and then replaced with an alternative law or to be changed to meet other objectives. According to (Hussey, 2018) , since the act was adopted approximately twenty million individuals have been insured, and another twenty-four million individuals can access free and subsidized care through Medicaid expansion as well as market tax credits. The first solution to the problem is repealing the act without any replacement if that is done the number of citizens insured will decrease by 20 million to 234 million individuals within the first year according to (Siwicki, 2019) . The expenses out of the pocket for those who want to enroll in the market will average to seven thousand and four hundred dollars in a single year, an increment of over 4300 dollars. The repeal will increase the federal loss by 32 billion dollars in a year because it will eradicate the provisions from the act.
The second solution is repealing the act and replacing it with a single payer plan. According to (Siwicki, 2019) , a unique plan will offer all the 300 million citizens in the U.S with health coverage. The only individuals ensured will be about 12 million immigrants. This will increase the country's healthcare budget to 435 billion dollars and raise the federal budget to one trillion dollars. However, from the two competing solutions, the preferable one is repealing with no replacement because repealing with another plan will be more expensive and will also offer fewer health coverage benefits to the citizens.
The three levels of government should work together to protect and to promote the health of the nation, despite each level having its responsibilities (Hussey, 2018) . The roles of the federal government include ascertaining that every branch of government can offer essential healthcare services, it also acts to help the states where they don't have enough specialists or resources to respond to a public health concern appropriately. The state government should offer technical training, provide screening for conditions and infections. Lastly, the role of the local government is to protect and to promote the health of the community.
References
Berwick, D. (2017). Understanding the American Healthcare Reform Debate. BMJ Journal , 350.
Hussey, P. (2018). The Future of U.S Healthcare: Replace or Revise the Affordable Care Act. Journal on Health Reform .
Siwicki, B. (2019, January 17). The Six major issues facing American healthcare in 2019. HealthcareIT News .
