With the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, one of his primary goals was expanding health insurance. Although this drew praise from Democrats, Republicans were very concerned about the potential creation of a welfare state. Thus, the fight to implement the Affordable Care Act became a long, drawn out battle that it still being debated today. The concerns over government intervention, effectiveness, and solvency both explain why it was so difficult to pass the ACA and why it is difficult to pass social programs. Although the Affordable Care Act brought changes that were already instituted in other nations, the ACA faced various hurdles in its infancy. As Barack Obama noted in 2009, the United States of America was one of the
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By their nature, social programs often face large opposition due to their debated popularity. Although some feel that these programs promote social good, others view them as an unfair drain on resources. Part of the reason behind this is that these programs work to cover those who cannot afford the costs by charging those who do not need to utilize them. As the ACA was no different, although 25 million new individuals have become insured under the ACA, the costs for those who previously had insurance have doubled and have noticed a degradation in coverage (Document 5). Specifically, according to The Kaiser study, in 2008 a family health insurance plan costed $12,680, while employees paid $3,354 (Document 6). In contrast, in 2006, a family plan cost grew to $18,142, and employees paid $5,277. This trend is also supported by the charts in Document 7, which display a relationship between cost increases and increases in those being covered by health insurance. The existence of these relationships makes perfect sense, as those who were previously unable to get affordable health insurance due to pre-existing conditions were now able to join the pool (Document 9). This has led to a surge in costs for healthy individuals and has led to the cancellations of plans utilized by approximately 2.6 million individuals. Thus, the ACA can be utilized as a prime example as to why it is difficult to pass social programs and ensure their solvency. Those who are able to make the system solvent are often those who do not utilize the services from the system. Thus, those individuals often do not want to pay for a program that will not benefit them. This concern was shared with the introduction of the ACA and still today. As mentioned in Document 3, health reform advocates are concerned that healthy and young individuals will ignore the
By their nature, social programs often face large opposition due to their debated popularity. Although some feel that these programs promote social good, others view them as an unfair drain on resources. Part of the reason behind this is that these programs work to cover those who cannot afford the costs by charging those who do not need to utilize them. As the ACA was no different, although 25 million new individuals have become insured under the ACA, the costs for those who previously had insurance have doubled and have noticed a degradation in coverage (Document 5). Specifically, according to The Kaiser study, in 2008 a family health insurance plan costed $12,680, while employees paid $3,354 (Document 6). In contrast, in 2006, a family plan cost grew to $18,142, and employees paid $5,277. This trend is also supported by the charts in Document 7, which display a relationship between cost increases and increases in those being covered by health insurance. The existence of these relationships makes perfect sense, as those who were previously unable to get affordable health insurance due to pre-existing conditions were now able to join the pool (Document 9). This has led to a surge in costs for healthy individuals and has led to the cancellations of plans utilized by approximately 2.6 million individuals. Thus, the ACA can be utilized as a prime example as to why it is difficult to pass social programs and ensure their solvency. Those who are able to make the system solvent are often those who do not utilize the services from the system. Thus, those individuals often do not want to pay for a program that will not benefit them. This concern was shared with the introduction of the ACA and still today. As mentioned in Document 3, health reform advocates are concerned that healthy and young individuals will ignore the