Question

5125 #5 Can you make any comments about this post, if you agree or dissagree? With Trump trying to get rid of Obamacare, it could have more of a negative effect than a positive one. For starters. So far, the effects of this could be health plans for the ill becoming more expensive. It is estimated that 12.7 million people depend on health insurance marketplaces created by Obamacare, and having Trump getting rid of it will effect the poor, the sick, the elderly and many others. It is not known if Obamacare will survive because Trump could cause a possible "death spiral" which is, "when health insurance becomes too expensive for poor people, they go without insurance. And if small business owners can buy association plans with skimpy benefits, they may also leave marketplace plans behind. That means fewer people to spread the risk to, which causes prices to rise, which causes more people to leave the markets – hence, a spiral" (Glenza 2017). What can be challenging about implementing the ACA is for one the United States has a long history of depending private sector markets. This means that this trait has prevented the US from adopting a national system to provide for universal healthcare. An example of this is for employers to purchase health coverage for their employees in the private market. Another reason is that many people fear federal structure. "we still fear central government power and rely heavily on the states to formulate and execute domestic policy. Our federal system has great strengths, but it is inherently complicated" (Rivlin 2016). Glenza, J. (2017, October 13). Dismantling Obamacare: What has Trump done and who will it affect? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/13/healthcare-donald-trump-obamacare-executive-orders Rivlin, A. M. (2016, July 29). Implementing the Affordable Care Act: Why Is This So Complex? Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2013/07/08/implementing-the-affordable-care-act-why-is-this-so-complex/

Answer 1

The said commentary on the impact on the Obama Care is correct. The basic premise of insurance is that risks are diversified by having a large population of insured which reduces the probability of claim generation. With the actions of the new government, what happens is that more and more people would be forced to come out of the purview of the insurance net. This will result in increase of premiums for the population who are still availing the insurance. This will in turn force more people to drop out and again lead to rise in premium. Consequently a vicious cycle is resulted which would lead to ultimately the Affordable Care Act being shelved or being left infeasible.

This will result in non-existence of a national health care program in the USA which the ACA sought to establish in the first place.