Whilst on the campaign trail, President Trump stated that he would replace Obamacare with ‘something much better’, but would he be better off completely replacing the ACA or simply building on the foundations laid by Obamacare? Setting politics aside, what measures could be taken to improve the current healthcare system?
One option would be to spend more money on Obamacare,
which has turned out to be ‘remarkably cheap’. The Congressional Budget Office
now projects its cost to be about a third lower than it originally expected,
around 0.7% of GDP. A report from the Urban Institute posits that the ACA is ‘essentially
underfunded,’ and could offer policies with significantly lower deductibles if
it provided larger subsidies for policy-holders. The report’s recommendations
would cost around 0.2% of GDP. Another often-cited issue with Obamacare is that
of inadequate insurance industry competition. More funding would mean better
subsidies which would increase enrolments, and probably bring in more insurers.
Another possibility would be to reintroduce a public insurance option sold
directly by the government, for those who still want that choice. A further,
more technical action would be to extend compensation for insurers whose risk
pool turned out to be worse than expected.
What do you think? Should the current administration
completely throw out the ACA and replace it with something else, or should they
just build on the existing framework of Obamacare? Also, what do you think of
the suggestions made by the article – how feasible are they, and would they have
the desired effect of improving health coverage?
I personally think that they should build on the existing framework of Obamacare. I believe that Obamacare has allowed everyone, whether they can or cannot afford health care, to have health care even if they have per-existing conditions. I think it would be a great idea but I don't know how feasible it is to put more money into Obamacare. Our country is in a lot of debt and I think that we need another "economic" solution to help pay for obamacare
ReplyDeleteI agree with Branden in the fact that we should build on Obamacare. I believe efforts to completely erase and replace Obamacare have mostly been due to political factors (Trump & Republicans being stubborn) rather than doing what is really best for the American people.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we can find the money Branden is saying we don't have by abandoning efforts to build a wall.
I agree. Obamacare has made healthcare accessible to more people. The only reason to wipe it out completely would be if the better alternative was founded on completely different principles. Until that happens, I think it would be safer to just improve on what they already have.
ReplyDeleteThe US spends about 17% of their GDP on healthcare, and yet has horrible numbers to represent its system. Something is clearly not working. I'm all about a universal, single payer system. The ACA doesn't quite fit that model, but it is a step towards it. We have to let go of a market system to deliver healthcare. In an ideal world (and if I had the power to do it), I would throw out the ACA and start fresh. I would build a system similar to that of Canada. BUT given the people currently in power, and what the GOP tried/failed to pass a week ago...I know that when Trump says "repeal and replace," anything that is proposed in replacement of the ACA will be trash.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure exactly what I think either way. Probably build on Obamacare. But I do think that when Trump was pushing that he was going to repeal & replace Obamacare that he forgot to actually have something worth replacing it with...
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority that we should build on Obamacare. As we noticed from class on Tuesday, a greater privatization of healthcare just leads to those can't afford it being left with less access. Those who can afford it aren't really interested in who can't, so building on Obamacare keeps the interest on those who can't afford it in mind.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the idea of building on Obamacare. Although it does have its faults, it is much better and covers many more people than the recently proposed and botched "Trumpcare".
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the improvements on Obamacare. The complete changes of the health care plans will cost extra labor, money and time, yet whether the new care plan is going to be pass or not is still not certain. Therefore, I agree with the idea of building on Obamacare.
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