- Myth: Another common belief is that through the Affordable Care Act the government is in fact pressurizing the rich to pay for the insurances of the poor. Fact: This myth does have some semblance with the real scenario. The Obamacare Act has resulted in higher taxes for the privileged and more grants for the poor. It is not unknown that Health care involves a lot of money and to provide it on a nationwide basis eventually increases the magnanimity of the amount. The cost for maintaining Obamacare comes around $1.1 trillion annually and hence in order to sustain it the government has to increase the tax amount. But if we look at it from a broader perspective this shared responsibility is the key to the progress of the American society. Moreover, by availing a health insurance, one can save much money when any medical emergency comes. So if everyone play their part dutifully then ultimately any unexpected crisis can be averted. Although the rich may have to pay more for their insurance but eventually they will only end up obtaining more benefits for themselves. Obamacare will take the place of current insurance Myth: One popular misconception is that Obamacare is going to replace the current insurance plan that a person has already enrolled. Fact: The first and foremost thing to k now in this regard is that the Obamacare Act doesn’t seek to replace any insurance plan that a person has already enrolled for. If anything, it only strengthens it. That is to say that one can now enjoy more coverage and facilities on the same plan that one has purchased. By ensuring that everyone who has a valid health insurance should enjoy 10 essential medical benefits, Obamacare has expanded the medical benefits manifolds. If the current insurance plan of any person doesn’t cover all the essential benefits that are mentioned in the Obamacare before, it does so now. Apart from this many new much affordable plans have been launched so as to make it easier for the common people to enroll. But if anyone is happy with their current plan then one can always choose to follow it in future. Coverage will decrease under Obamacare Myth: It is often believed that the coverage and benefits that one used to receive previously will be degraded. Fact: It was never the intention of Obamacare to reduce the benefits that are currently provided under any insurance scheme. The law in fact mandates that anyone who has purchased a plan from the Marketplace should be entitled to following medical benefits:
1. Hospitalization and surgery
2. Rehabilitative treatment
3. Lab testing services
4. Pediatric care
5. Maternity care prior to, during and after labor
6. Mental health services
7. Preventative services like annual checkups
8. Prescription medication
9. Emergency services
10. Outpatient care or ambulatory services
Before Obamacare was introduced, no plans however promising they might have been covered all 10 critical medical benefits. This ensures that people become more healthy and recover quickly both physically and financially even after a major emergency. Even adults who are aged less than 26 years can enjoy health care insurance bought by their parents. Insurance companies have been more streamlined and now need definitive reasons to cancel payments or to increase premiums mid-way through the year. A maximum limit has been introduced beyond which all medical expenses shall be borne by the insurers and enrollees don’t have to pay a dime. Additionally subsidies are also provided to meet the premium amount. Keeping all this is in mind one can easily deduce that coverage has only increased under Obamacare and that too many fold than any of their current or previous health plans. Businesses will incur significant losses Myth: Many business owners feel that they are going to lose out on a lot of money now that Obamacare has been introduced. Fact: The premiums for Obamacare are not particularly cheap and when it comes to business owners who have to pay the full coverage of their employees it can be a bit of a nuisance. Hence in the initial years there were few job losses and reduction of work hours but those days are well past now. The initial panic which was caused by mayhem in the congress forced many businesses to go on the back foot. But with recurring years they have fully turned around. In fact many new jobs both in the public sector and private sector have been created and that too with full medical coverage. Obamacare cohered employers to pay for the medical coverage of their workers based on the size of their businesses. By 2016, it was mandated that companies that are quite successful must have in their employment 50 employees who are offered full time coverage. The smaller companies were not burdened with the mandatory inclusion but receive handsome tax reliefs if they should choose to provide coverage to their employees. If any company does not provide medical coverage to its employees then they are taxed accordingly. Keeping in mind that in the worst of cases if added premiums do lead to job losses, the ACA even provides hardship exemptions to individuals who end up being fired for this reason. The exemptions are provided in the form of subsidies so that even temporarily unwaged employees and their families don’t miss out on their health care premiums or can even find a new less costly one. Obamacare also provided a host of added benefits for businesses. Normally an individual can enroll only during the open enrollment period but businesses are not hassled to do so. They can enroll during SHOP programs as well. SHOP stands for Small Business Health Options Programs. Employers can file for tax relief before paying the taxes or can also use the credit to pay for future year. If a state doesn’t have Market place then the residents won’t be able to enroll for Obamacare Myth: In some states across the US, especially interior or small ones, Marketplace is not present. Since Obamacare applies for those plans which can be purchased from the marketplace many residents believe that the unavailability of a Marketplace in their residing state will prevent them from enrolling to Obamacare. Fact: It is true that Obamacare only applies to plans which can be bought from the marketplace. The marketplace can be compared to a virtual shopping destination where customers can view different plans, easily compare them against one another, get all their doubts and queries resolved from experts either by chatting or talking to them over the phone and also calculate the amount of subsidy that they are liable to receive against any plan. So naturally many think that unavailability of a marketplace in the residing state will force them to lose out on the numerous benefits that are offered under Obamacare. But the good news is that one can still enroll for Obamacare even if their state doesn’t have a marketplace. The Obamacare does not mandate any state to host a marketplace if they shouldn’t wish to do so. Hence state authorities are well within the law if they so choose not to. Residents of such states who wish to enroll for Obamacare simply have to go on to the marketplace offered by the federal government. After logging on to the website, one can simply select his residing state, browse through all the available plans and choose the one best suited to his needs and income level. The Affordable Care Act strives to ensure that no one has to live without a proper health care insurance and thus crosses all limitations to offer it to the American citizens even if some of the states don’t comply. The marketplace website is not easy to navigate Myth: In the initial days the marketplace website had a few glitches and was prone to crash sometimes in the middle of a transaction which caused some nuisance for the people to enroll for an insurance scheme. This has led to a popular belief since then that the website is still very hard to navigate Fact: When the Obamacare Act was introduced for the first time, the act makers didn’t have much time to oversee all the aspects of it. Like can one easily apply for it or not or how many people are going to enroll etc. The website that was launched was not properly tested and hence some glitches were left unattended. As a result of these glitches the website got hanged or even crashed sometime if the servers were overloaded with users. Moreover the short tenure of the open enrollment period also further added to the woes. This made online purchase almost impossible. But those issues were quickly countered and rectified within a course of mere two months and millions of Americans, as many as 8 million, were able to successfully enroll after that. The site has been regularly updated year by year and now boasts of a much user friendly interface. New features such as online chat have been introduced where one can get their queries resolved within moments by chatting with a virtual online assistant. All the links are properly named so that one can easily navigate through the options, easily compare them and also calculate the amount of subsidy conveniently. Even if after all the modifications one still finds it difficult to navigate the site, one can still choose to enroll through their mobile phones or via email or directly visiting any of the exchanges. Medicaid facility is no longer available Myth: Of all the lies spread by the haters of Obamacare the most preposterous was that the Medicaid plan was eradicated with the initiation of Obamacare. Fact: The Medicaid plan was put into place keeping in mind the plight of the aged people. According to this act anybody who is 65 years of age can enroll in it and enjoy free of cost health care benefits for the rest of his life. Provisions are also there to en cash in the benefits at an earlier age but in that case the benefit amount is reduced appropriately. Individuals who suffer from permanent disability or end stages of critical life threatening diseases are also covered under the Medicaid plan irrespective of their age. Hence the Medicaid plan serves as a beacon of hope for all the disabled and elderly. Before Obamacare was introduced people could still enroll for Medicaid but the benefits were severely low and also denied many times in case of even small mistakes. Obamacare made it its primary goal to make states expand their Medicaid program so as to reach out to majority of the elderly people who still were left without any insurance. Figures state that as of 2018, 27 states back the Medicaid expansion program and made them available to their residents. Residents of the rest 21 states can still enjoy the original benefits provided by the Medicaid plan but will miss out on the new benefits. People who miss to enroll themselves for Medicaid during the open enrollment period can no longer enroll via the marketplace but can still enroll via other options like any assistance program all throughout the year with ease. Even doctors who previously received less payment for accepting Medicaid covered patients will be receiving the same payment as those who don’t accept Medicaid patients. Hence their salaries have increased significantly than before. Judging by all the points it can be safely concluded that Obamacare has not only upheld Medicaid but also expanded it. One who couldn’t afford health insurance earlier can’t still do it now Myth: Many of the underprivileged people feel that even with Obamacare nothing has changed for them. They were unable to purchase a health insurance before and neither can they do now. Fact: It is true that many underprivileged people were denied medical coverage in the past but Obamacare is changing that picture. People who fall under the 400% Federal Poverty Limit get good amount of subsidies so as to cover up for their premiums. The Medicaid program is also expanded in many states under Obamacare, which ensures free medical checkup. Families can now even select plans which cost only $100 per month. The shared responsibility motto of Obamacare rigorously guards the well-being of the underprivileged. Additionally insurance companies who previously had the option to charge absurd rates for even meagre medical benefits were made more accountable and forced to revise their rates or provide formal justification for keeping them so high. Cost of prescribed medicines were also lowered and free of cost preventative services have been introduced. Moreover, the annual limits and lifetime limits were abolished so as to provide more breathing space for the enrollees. It is seen that in US the main reason for bankruptcy is caused by over charged medical bills. Obamacare set out to change this age old statistics and provide more stability. Families who still couldn’t pay for Obamacare were provided exemption or if someone already have a low cost insurance they were allowed to still follow it. Obamacare forces to enlist for unwanted services Myth: This myth is mainly propagated by religious fanatics who are opposed to the ACA act on account of certain items which are objectionable as per their religion. Like certain Christian beliefs condemn the use of contraceptives or other birth control pills. Fact: Keeping these beliefs in mind, the Affordable Care Act has included some clauses to adhere to the religious guidelines as well. For example employers who have a deep faith in Christianity can choose to offer medical coverage to their workers excluding the birth control benefits. Under no circumstances Obamacare asks its enrollees to go astray from their beliefs in order to gain medical insurance. Even if some clause do not adhere to religious beliefs, they can be challenged in a court of law and examples of such cases have been seen multiple times in the past. In such cases the court rules in the favor of the believers and allow them to bypass such clauses. Number of uninsured people are rising daily Myth: Number of uninsured people have increased after the Obamacare was launched. Fact: Opposition and haters like to spread that contrary to popular belief and results published by survey houses that the number of uninsured individuals has been increasing steadily since the ACA was introduced. But if one looks at the statistics before the Trump administration came to power and compare it with today’s scenario, it can be easily seen that the ruses are far from truth and are spread only to belittle the achievement of Obamacare. The rates started increasing after the new insurance act (also called as Trump care) were introduced. By removing the mandatory inclusion clause even for those who can afford a decent coverage the Trump administration is alienating the American youth from signing up to a health insurance scheme. Synopsis The Affordable Care Act is no short of a miracle for the American Health Care system. This act protects the interests of all individuals and unless and until in case of frauds or serious violations on the part of the enrollees no one is denied insurance. Every aspect of health care has been closely taken care of to curb out any malpractices and to fill any gap that might have existed before. The smokers and addicts are charged more premiums so as to discourage them from continuing their bad habits. Wellness programs are conducted throughout the year in regular intervals to spread awareness among the common people about various health problems like obesity, cholesterol etc. so as to encourage them to lead a healthy life. Employers are also educated on the need to spread awareness among his employees so that they don’t fall sick unnecessarily. All in all the Affordable Care Act strives to make the American people live a healthy and long life by guiding them to take effective long term health decisions.
