Affordable care act/Obama care

1. Affordable care act/Obama care Joel MuhammedHuq Frank Nguyen 3rd period

2. ACA’s goals and basic info • Sought to create more affordable access to health insurance and reduce American spending on health. • The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius (official name for the ruling on Obamacare) ruling upheld most of the bill. However, few changes were made, most importantly the ruling on Medicaid which allows states to reject Medicaid for their poorest. • The supreme court ruled it being a tax instead of a mandate. • Allowed states to opt out of Medicaid in 2014 as of October 2013

5. Reducing the # of Americans w/o health insurance • Stops insurance companies from dropping Americans while they’re sick. • Prevents gender discrimination and prevents unjustifiable rate hitches. • Gives the people the right to a rapid appeal of the insurance company’s decisions. • Subsidizes health insurance costs and expands coverage to more Americans.

6. Reducing the # of Americans w/o insurance cont. • Ten Essential Rights for Insurers • Emergency Services • Hospitalizations • Laboratory services • Maternity care • Mental Health and substance abuse treatment • Outpatient, or ambulatory care • Pediatric care • Prescriptive drugs • Rehabilitative services • Vision and dental care for children

8. ACA’s individual mandate and it’s constitutionality • To urge Americans to pay for health insurance or they’d have to pay taxes, which went into effect the 4th of January 2014. • All Americans had an exemption, which gave them until March 31st, 2014 to enroll in the marketplace plan. • Those who don’t pay for health insurance are subjected to pay taxes, which increase every year. • Violated the 10th amendment, but SCOTUS defended Obama care in the NFIB v Sebelius case using the commerce clause and 16th amendment.

11. ACA’s conservative roots • Existed under Nixon’s presidential term in the 1970s, seeking to develop more competition between the insurance companies and to spread the costs more equally. • The mandate under Nixon’s term however required companies to provide insurance for their employees or they’d be subjected to taxes. • Stuart M. Butler/Mark Paulysuggested the individual mandate and the Heritage foundation stuck with the idea. • Republican co-sponsors supported a Senate bill similar to that of the individual mandate before. It failed after Bill Clinton’s push for health care coverage failed.

13. ACA’s unpopularity and it’s affects on midterm elections • High priority to pass it in first term because the Democrats had a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives. • Backroom deals: Democrat senator Ben Nelson’s vote for the bill in exchange for a provision in the bill where Nebraska would be the only state to full medicaid coverage by the federal government. • Unpopular by 2010, Republican majority in house of Representatives

16. Health insurance and web exchanges • Website where shoppers could research options and health insurances. • ACA required states to offer an exchange to it’s residents • -state creates and runs the exchange • -federal runs the exchange • -state and federal work together

17. Citations • Obamacarefacts.com/supreme-court-obama.php • http://www.mymustardseeds.com/obamacare--how-it-passed.html • http://www.scotusblog.com/2011/08/the-aca-and-the-tenth-amendment/ • http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/health/policy/health-care-mandate-was-first-backed-by-conservatives.html?_r=0