Be aware of healthcare
As the 2012 election draws nearer, the issues dividing President Barak Obama and Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney have been placed under the microscope. Judgements and opinions have been circling the ideas of the two opponents, and much of the controversy has been centered on healthcare.
Both candidates have made strides in the field of health care, with President Obama’s signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and Governor Romney’s insurance reform in Massachusetts. Some might be more familiar with these plans as “Obamacare” and “Romneycare.”
Here are some of the highlights of each candidate’s health care vision, along with criticism that has recently arisen.
Obama’s plan
Obama’s federalization of healthcare has received reactions from joy to terror and everywhere in between. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was put into Law in March of 2010, but the law will not be fully absorbed until 2020.
The primary goal of the PPACA is to reduce medical costs for Americans and to provide the 31 million without insurance with medical coverage. The PPACA:
- Puts regulation of health care in the hands of the federal government and out of the hands of private companies
- Prohibits insurance companies from denying people coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
- Forbids companies from placing annual or lifetime caps on benefit payments and eliminates out of pocket charges for preventative care such as flu shots and diabetes tests.
Criticisms
- The plan includes an individual mandate that requires all Americans to get health insurance by 2014 or face a tax penalty (1% of income or $95, whichever is higher).
- It cuts around $700 billion in the Medicare program over the next decade.
-It will ultimately result in more spending, adding to the US deficit.
Romney’s Plan
In 2006, Romney signed off on the Massachusetts health care insurance reform, which required nearly all Massachusetts residents to obtain the minimum amount of health insurance.
Romney has vowed to repeal the PPACA, though he has claimed he would adapt some aspects of the reform, including the coverage of pre-existing conditions. Romney has announced no definitive plan in regards to health care, but he has claimed that he will:
-Pursue policies that put health care reform on a state level, giving power to the states and taking power away from federal government.
-Adapt vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s plan of implementing a premium support (what some call a “voucher system”), which will involve Medicare beneficiaries receiving a voucher to purchase healthcare on the private market.
-End tax discrimination in the individual purchase of insurance.
Criticisms
-Romney has recently taken heat for his claim that he would enforce some parts of Obama’s health care reform, after previously stating that he would “repeal all of Obamacare and replace it.”
-The “voucher system” will lead to many Americans having to pay out of pocket for the amount that their voucher doesn’t cover, leading to more unaffordable insurance.
-Romney claimed that he would restore the $700 billion cut from Medicare, though a cut of the same amount was included in vice presidential candidate Ryan’s budget plan.
