Policy Statement

Policy Statement

Affordable healthcare formally known as universal healthcare system has been a largely debated topic since the Clinton administration. During the Clinton administration, means of implementing a healthcare system that will provide healthcare to all citizens of the United States was explored with no collective agreement of implementing. In this paper the focus will primarily be based on identifying at least three independent policy problems which are: the loss of jobs and the down shifting of the economy, crowding out of insurance exchanges, and Medicare provider cuts and the jeopardizing of senior citizens using Medicare savings to finance new entitlements that will be challenged and debated regarding the implementation of the Obama healthcare legislation. Also, problems from two opposing perspectives will be framed. Working with the structure of the Clinton’s administration healthcare plan, President Obama attempted to create a solution to get the universal healthcare plan implemented. The plan that was drafted from the Obama administration as a solution to providing citizens with universal healthcare was a program called Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, most notably referenced as Obamacare. March 2010, President Obama signed his new healthcare reform in to law, which was an instrumental part of his presidential campaign. Prior to the signing of Obamacare, the most significant repair to the United States healthcare was the passing of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The most notable agenda of Obamacare is directed at helping the many uninsured citizens gain affordable health coverage despite their income or prior and/or current health related issues. While constructing a healthcare reform to provide affordable health to all citizens was no easy task, there were a number of obstacles that had to be overcome; multiple extension and revisions to coincide with the laws that compromise the federal legal framework for the United States healthcare system. President Obama’s healthcare now provides the basic legal protection healthcare that has been absent from the country’s healthcare system; particularly affordable health coverage from an individual’s birth to their retirement

The first independent policy problem that will be addressed is the destruction of jobs as well as the potential down shift of the economy. The implementation of Obamacare is set to bring forth higher taxes on small business. Two percent of small businesses in America have over 50 full-time employees that put them in the predicament of having to choose to insure full-time workers or endure a fine (Obamacare Facts, n.d.). To avoid the fine or having to insure employees full time, many of the small business will submit to cutting the hours of employee to make them more of part time or quarter time employees, even stop hiring. Furthermore, the top two percent, closer to three percent of businesses