Calvin University's official student newspaper since 1907

Calvin University Chimes

Since 1907
Calvin University's official student newspaper since 1907

Calvin University Chimes

Calvin University's official student newspaper since 1907

Calvin University Chimes

Affordable Care Act ideal

Ever since Roosevelt’s Medicaid and Medicare programs, health care continues to cause a huge uproar in the United States. Today’s main health care reform decision is known as the Affordable Health Act (ACA). This new health care reform law will save millions of American citizens’ lives.

Without health insurance, a person can get into some deep debt or not even be able to afford the treatment they need for certain illnesses. And with the health insurance premiums skyrocketing, many people cannot afford to pay those premiums.

Do people actually need to make the choice between putting foods on the table for their families or covering their healthcare bills? No, they should not. The United States as a nation should come together and help pay for each other’s health insurance.

Does this mean the ACA is the right way to go? I say yes, the ACA is a step in the right direction.

According to Section 2705 of the ACA, this act forbids insurance companies from dropping you if you become sick. It also nullifies pre-existing conditions and gender discrimination. All this helps the American people.

Yes, under the ACA you are being forced to buy health insurance. But this just ensures that everyone in the United States will be able to afford his or her health bills. This makes doctors happy because they know people will be able to pay them. This also makes patients happy because they know they can afford their own bills.

“A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage that provides dependent coverage of children shall continue to make such coverage available for an adult child until the child turns 26 years of age,” is found in Section 2714 of the ACA. This part of the law is the biggest thing for us as college students. It declares that under the ACA we can stay on our parent’s health insurance until we turn 26. This way, you don’t have to worry about health care services until you graduate from college, possibly graduate school, or get a job.

Also, health care providers cannot give annual caps to anyone. This way, a person will not have to worry about paying for a doctor’s visit.

According to Huffington Post, House Republicans have tried to repeal the ACA 42 times. Is this actually logical? No. It’s all for the means of politics. Wasting time and taxpayer money just to try to repeal something that will never happen. According to the Daily Kos, for every repeal, it costs $1.45 million — that’s about $60.9 million we’ve spend on trying to repeal something that is never going to be repealed.

If you’ve been following the whole government shutdown issue, you’ve heard it a million times: one of the reasons the GOP doesn’t agree with the ACA is because “we cannot afford it.”

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will cost the national government just over $1 trillion for 10 years. No, maybe we can’t afford that.

But with our military and defense budget exploding to over $1 trillion per year (the total cost of Department of Defense plus intelligence, homeland security and Veterans programs), maybe we should look to cut different parts of the budget.

The ACA has been presented positively and negatively by numerous news sources, but I personally believe it should be fully supported.

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