The Pros and Cons of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
Let us help you save up to 30% on health insurance
There’s no doubt that Obamacare is a controversial topic. Depending on your politics, you might support it or not, but either way, there are some clear advantages and disadvantages to the act.
The Affordable Care Act has been in place for over 13 years at this point, so it’s high time we do a review of the Affordable Care Act pros and cons. After all, it’s your health, your tax dollars, and your rights we’re talking about.
Settle in. Let’s dive into it.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also referred to as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010 during Barack Obama’s tenure as president. The goal was to get more Americans access to more affordable health care, regulate the health insurance industry, and reduce the costs of healthcare in the U.S.
Did it work? Keep reading to find out.
Before we dive into the pros and cons, it helps to know exactly what the ACA is and does.
The ACA was a large initiative based on years of ideas from both political parties and the healthcare industry. The ACA revolves around a “three-legged stool” that both improves access to and the costs of health insurance while ensuring that insurance providers remain profitable (and better able to serve Americans).
This three-pronged approach involves:
This three-pronged approach means that everyone should have access to affordable health insurance. However, the individual mandate has since gone by the wayside; in 2019, the penalty for not having health insurance was removed, although the full impact of this to the ACA is not yet known.
The Benefits of Obamacare
Let’s start off on a positive note. Here are some of the upsides of Obamacare:
Most importantly, insurers can no longer deny coverage for those with pre-existing conditions; before the ACA, they could be denied coverage or have to pay sky-high rates, because pre-existing conditions are generally unprofitable to insurers.
One notable improvement is that the Medicare donut hole was slowly closed, meaning that people with Medicare Part D no longer lose coverage after spending a certain amount on prescription drugs.
It’s important to note that all of these advantages and disadvantages relate only to the federally-regulated plans through the marketplace. Anyone can still get private health insurance, and these plans don’t need to follow the same rules and regulations.
No matter how you feel about the ACA politically, it seems clear that it’s doing what it set out to do: get Americans more access to health insurance. In fact, in the first five years after the exchange was launched,17 million more Americans became insured.
Whether or not you support the ACA, it’s important to have good health insurance in place, to be able to get the care you need without stretching the budget. Plus, the peace of mind of not having to worry about what happens if you get sick is pretty great too.
Give yourself that peace of mind by getting access to free quotes for health insurance here. Find a plan that works for you, and then move on with your day. We’ve got you covered.
Lauren Lewthwaite Lauren Lewthwaite has been freelance writing for almost five years writing content that ranges from health to insurance and everything in between. Lauren is also a trained translator in French and English and is a dog-mom to an adorable Australian Shepherd.
