In the recent century, humanity’s exponential advancements in technology revolutionized medical breakthroughs and new powerful treatments for illnesses within the United States.  However, with such great advancements comes a simultaneous increase in cost for necessary medication and treatments.  As the prices continue to increase, many Americans cannot afford to pay such a heavy burden without the financial compensation granted by an insurance company.  Sometimes, whether a person has insurance or not to cover the devastating costs could potentially put them in a life or death situation.  In 2008, newly elected President Obama won his campaign on a firm platform promising the American people he would provide every single American health insurance.  President Obama was not the only president who attempted to reform America’s healthcare system, but he was the first to implement the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which provided a way for American to obtain healthcare at a lower premium cost.  Although the initial idea promises benefits to all citizens, the plan unfortunately was implemented too quickly and with severe flaws causing more issues than intended.  These issues raised many concerns to the American people such as the risk of penalties for being uninsured, a high premium rate for minimal coverage, the removal of national Medicare with the expansion of state run Medicaid, and the overall process to receive coverage through Obamacare.  Thus, the most recent 2016 election inspired Republicans to run on a platform promising their supporters for the complete removal of Obamacare.  This ideology poses a great issue with people who rely on the current benefits of Obamacare and if the Affordable Care Act becomes removed by Congress completely without a proper replacement it could be devastating to the economy and to the citizens.  Politicians wildly debate the necessary actions required to efficiently fix the current issue.  The best solution to fixing Obamacare lies between the two extreme courses of action.  America needs to revise the health care system by working together to create amendments to the current Affordable Health Care Act and implement this system swiftly and efficiently.  By analyzing statistical information on the current health care system and plans for replacement, discussing the benefits and issues of Obamacare, and finding a compromise between the viewpoints of Politicians and concerned Americans to prove that creating a new plan that utilizes the true benefits of Obamacare alongside the proper revisions will be the best choice for the American people.

Obamacare began with many great promises to the American people, but today there are undeniable and critical financial issues with the plan that Congress needs to address immediately.  The coverage lacks the ability to be accessed universally to all people.  Even with the current premiums, many Americans do not have access to affordable means of insurance.  Currently, the law “does not radically change the manner in which most Americans accessed health care as it assumes that most working-aged Americans employed by mid-sized and large employers continue to receive insurance as a benefit of employment.” (Beland, Rocco, Waddan 3) Universal coverage implies that any citizen has access any time. With the lack of Government involvement in the health care market, people still do not have equal access to coverage like countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Switzerland.  The people need a way to access some form of a coverage for all incomes that provides top quality service.  But even without the issue of universal coverage, the Affordable Care Act struggles to financially benefit the paying citizens.  According to her cost analysis, writer and president of the Pacific Research Institute Sally Pipes determines through analysis of multiple newspapers and the Congressional budget office that the government will need to collect “a cool 1 trillion dollars over 10 years.”  (Pipes 2).  This money will come from the taxpayers through the premiums and other government subsidies to pay for the plan.  Obamacare has helped millions of Americans receive coverage, however “many Americans that did get insurance have really bad insurance, with deductibles so high that it’s really not worth much to them.” (Vox 0:46)  The plan  There are 3 main areas of Obamacare that could use significant improvement.  Congress needs to ‘Fix the Affordable Care Act by addressing clear and substantive problems, making sure any fixes should improve the law’s finances or at least not worsen them, and reformers should begin with repairs that can attract bipartisan support.” (Cassidy 1) Most importantly, a plan needs to be derived to help cut down on cost and forcing Americans to pay exorbitant amounts in premiums for such a small amount of total coverage.  The Republicans currently debate on how they will cut down on the costs while providing more insurance coverage to the population.  The costs can be cut down by offering more available options to the health care plan.  Either allowing the American people to choose their amount of coverage for the price they want, or by bringing in funds from Congresses budget to help fund coverage for all Americans.  

Not only do financial issues pose a threat to Americans, but also many changes to the law like the removal of Medicare and the Expansion of Medicaid.  Medicare was the most recent method for federal aid in paying for medical expenses, but with the Affordable care act all Americans on Medicare, which includes all the elderly, will now be placed under the state enforced Medicaid. Since Medicaid is a state run program, it varies depending on the laws the state enforces.  After the passing of the Affordable Health Care Act, much younger and impoverished people are eligible to receive the benefits. Today, “any individual $14,404 or less would qualify for Medicaid.” (Pipes 74) If more people receive coverage, what harm could Medicaid impose on the people who qualify?  People who use Medicaid are more likely to recover less effectively than patients with a private insurance company funding them.  Citizens who rely on Medicaid also do not have much access to medications.  Also, many doctors will “dodge” patients who rely on Medicare because most doctors run a small private office or work in group offices and cannot afford to accept Medicaid and not receive necessary payments for treatment causing them to lose money.  If doctors accept more patients on Medicaid, they must place the financial burden somewhere else to cover for the cost.  This means citizens who use private insurance companies will pay an increase in rates for the usual coverage they received before Medicaid expands.  Medicaid places a burden on the doctors who need to make money to maintain their medical practice and the American people on Medicaid receive a similar burden by not having access to proper treatment.  Rather than expand the Medicaid program, the national government needs to revive the Medicare program and provide much cheaper premiums to ensure that even the impoverished Americans making less than $15,000 can have equal coverage with everyone else.

What are Republicans doing now as an answer to the people’s concern?  The road to finding the most beneficial course of action has been extremely difficult for Congress and President because the task is much more difficult said than done.  Most ideas or votes attempted to be spoken about or mentioned during congressional sessions are usually met with heavy opposition from the minority Democratic side or conflictions within the Republican party itself.  However, even with the opposition, confusion, and conflicts within parties, President Donald Trump already began to pull the carpet under Obamacare by passing new executive orders to begin the arduous process of replacement to fulfill his promise during the election. This executive order called for “the immediate removal of Obamacare, but the law must still be upheld.” (Lee) This executive order does nothing to change the Affordable Care Act, but rather tells the states that they can start to determine which aspects they want to be more relaxed on such as penalties on the American people for not having any insurance.  State Government now have more control over the healthcare market and the insurance companies will be able to trade across state lines providing more insurance to the public.  The republican party plans that they will continue to hold these loose interpretations which will give them enough time to formulate a plan.  Unfortunately, no plan is ready immediately and the Republicans have been bashing heads together to put a plan in place.  Whether the bill should be repealed entirely or whether the party should reform a bill that keeps many beneficial parts while also implementing conservative ideals.  Most republican congressman firmly hold their stance to pulling the carpet under Obamacare immediately because they won the support of the voting public through their platforms based on this promise.  Some Republican leaders clearly see that the only way to bring the health care system to a golden age will be through working together with both parties to create an agreement of ideas.  Two Senators, Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins hastily released a plan that keeps some good parts of Obamacare but gives states the ability to decide for themselves what plan they want their people covered with.  This means states now have the choice to “keep the old system, replace a new system, or remove the system of entirely.” (Hiltzik).  Unfortunately for the Senators, support for the bill lacks any popularity between both parties.  The most important idea manifested through the attempts of Senators Cassidy and Collins is that Republicans are starting to think there will be a much better approach to running the national health care.  They believe health care is of utmost importance and they realize they need to cooperate with all representatives rather than create conflict. 

The Republican party climbed to the top of their campaigns by winning support against Obamacare, but what would happen if the Affordable Care Act was immediately dismantled without proper replacement?   No matter how high the premiums are or how poor the coverage Obamacare provides, millions of Americans rely on the benefits they receive.  Unfortunately, no concrete evidence or history of repealing a health care currently exists so the topic of debate is mostly speculation and statistical predictions.  However, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has analysts and research teams determining all possible outcomes.  The insurance market might not be able to sustain itself anymore causing “at least 18 million people who would lose health insurance in the first year if Republicans move ahead with plans to repeal major portions of the Affordable Care act without a replacement plan.” (Snell) Without proper coverage, Congress endangers the people who rely on the government plans to afford medication and treatment.  With more people being forced to purchase “non-group coverage” potentially could lead to the value of insurance premiums doubling within this current decade.  Republicans claim they have outlines and frames of new plans ready, but this method would not be sufficient and cause issues with Republican promises to insure all Americans.  Democrats spent a large majority of time to implement the current system and its no surprise that Republicans will need to do the same.  Republicans cannot afford “political blowback” (Bryan 1) from the number of voters who would lose insurance indefinitely.  The people need health care protection and immediate removal of Obamacare would cause too many dangerous situations for the healthcare market and the common welfare.   

“The long and winding road” to a partial repeal and replacement is another strategy the Republicans could use.  This means that Republicans could make partial repeals to Obamacare and delay its end while making small changes until a full replacement plan is implemented in increments.  With this plan, GOP representatives could build a consensus, hopefully with the support of democratic representatives, and ensure that over 20 million people would still receive benefits from the Affordable Care Act.  With more time to consider and deliberate on sections for their new plan, Republicans would have the ability to craft laws that could fulfill their campaign promises.  Business Insider’s writer Bob Bryan suggests that Republicans need to provide and extension on “reinsurance and risk corridors.”  This will provide compensation to insurance companies that provide care for a higher percentage of sick patients and hopefully inspires more companies to offer plans to more people while the Republicans work on their new plan.  

With Republicans in the spotlight after the recent election, Democrats lost a significant amount of power in Congress and lost the ability to effectively combat Republican representatives.  Viewpoints aside, the Democrats need to be more open to the idea of fixing issues with Obamacare rather than resort to manifesting a wall between themselves and the rest of Congress.  They rely on using filibusters and focusing their efforts on stopping president Trump any way possible rather than unifying the attempts to help all American people.  The main cause of venomous behavior between the congressman and women originates from the duty to stick with the party’s beliefs and not be willing to accept the beliefs of others.  This fact sadly affects both Republicans and Democrats because neither side willingly wants to work with one another except for the small minority like Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins who are willing to attempt creating a plan that can include both liberal and conservative view points.  Our country sadly resides in a state of unrest because our representatives refuse to work together.  Without the support and help from both sides, Congress will remain at deadlock without solving any national issues such as our health care system.  The time for America to push their differences aside is now.  The Affordable Care Act needs to be amended to relieve the voting citizens of financial stress.  As representatives of those citizens, the Democrats and Republicans need to work as one machine to ensure the safety, liberty and protection of the population. 

The protection and wellbeing of the American citizens is the most important means to our prosperity.  As medical treatments continue to evolve, The United States Government needs to create a plan to universally protect the common welfare of the people.  While Obamacare did provide a window of opportunity for Americans to receive affordable health care plans, it lacks significantly in universal coverage with millions of people still living without any form of insurance.  The rising premiums place a burden on the taxpayers especially those who must pay taxes to run Obamacare and pay for their own private insurance.  Other plans like giving the state more power through Medicaid could provide more opportunities, but Medicaid needs reformation to help patients get the care they deserve.  Republicans want to push their agenda and pull the carpet under Obamacare, but without a proper and well-built plan to seamlessly replace it the country will fall into turmoil.  Likewise, the Democrats need to realize that Obamacare has faults and working together with the Republicans will prove beneficial in the end.  The only way to resolve the health care crisis will be to amend Obamacare by keeping the most beneficial points while also providing affordable and practical ways to ensure that all people will be covered.  Prioritizing the security and safety of the people is the duty of our national government.  With a strong replacement plan, even if the replacements occur over a longer period of time allowing Congress to deliberate and work out any discrepancies, this country will become a safer, healthier and stronger ecosystem.
