Health Care in the US – ACA vs. the AHCA

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The Health Care debate in the US particularly on the Affordable Health Act (ACA) versus the American Health Care Act (AHCA) has ravaged the country ever since President Trump was elected into office.

Obamacare, as the ACA is commonly referred to, was mainly aimed to provide affordable health care to the poor while the American Health Care Act aims to amend or repeal some of the provisions that are found in the ACA.

Below is a comparison:

 

Health Care in the US; The Comparison Between ACA vs. AHCA

First, under Obamacare, everyone was expected to buy insurance each year, failure to which, they would incur a penalty. In contrast, the AHCA leaves the choice to buy health insurance with an individual. However, if you don’t have insurance but decide to buy in later, you will have to pay a penalty.

Secondly, Obamacare offered generous subsidies for lower-income people to pay for their insurance. The AHCA, on the other hand, has smaller subsidies to help lower-income people pay for their insurance. The argument is that the AHCA makes premiums fall, leading to a lower cost of the insurance, hence attracting more people to buy in.

The consumer protection from insurance companies under Obamacare was more than in the AHCA. Obamacare expected insurance companies to cover a lot of things including mental health, maternity health, and prescription drugs. Moreover, there were no annual or lifetime limits on coverage, and people with pre-existing conditions were to be covered at no extra cost.

The AHCA has loosened the noose around the necks of the insurance companies. States are allowed to opt out of most of the protections. This translates to higher costs when it comes to the protections that the state has opted out of.

Finally, the AHCA includes cuts to Medicaid, cuts projected to about $800 billion in 10 years. This is unlike under Obamacare where Medicaid was expanded to people who are a bit above the poverty line.

 

A question of whether Obamacare is better than AHCA cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. There are a lot of fundamental issues that are discussed in each of the healthcare issues in the US and you have to understand each of them to make a fair comparison.

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