Introduction
Various aspects of human identity determine the interactions between the genetic and environmental factors in determining the health of an individual. Gender, race, and class are complex traits that have great impact on the health of an individual. They help in determining the social dimensions of the health of individuals. All these traits have genetic underpinnings. However, they have varying levels of genetic underpinnings. People of a certain race may have a high predisposition to acquire various health conditions (Veenstra 2). In addition, certain diseases may only affect people of a certain gender. On the other hand, the social class of an individual may increase the probability of the individual from suffering from lifestyle diseases. Therefore, it is vital for the healthcare programs of various countries to take into consideration these factors. The programs should not discriminate people based on gender, race, or class. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is the American healthcare policy that strives to increase the affordability of healthcare to all Americans. Obamacare strives to improve the health status of disadvantaged groups.
Obamacare
Obamacare has helped in revolutionizing the public and private healthcare insurance industry. It ensures that people who would otherwise not get health insurance to access have health insurance. In so doing, Obamacare has helped improve the health of Americans. Thus, it is prudent to say that Obamacare is one of the vital pieces of legislation that the government of President Obama has enacted. Obamacare prohibits healthcare insurance providers from dropping people from insurance coverage when they get sick. According to Obamacare, insurance providers should not drop people from insurance coverage when they get sick unless they have very strong reasons. Such reasons may include misrepresentation of an existing health condition. The act forces organizations to investigate the health conditions individuals before agreeing to offer insurance cover to individuals. This helps in reducing the financial burden that people may incur if insurance firms drop them from coverage when they fall sick.
Impact of Obamacare on Healthcare Accessibility
Obamacare enables individuals who would otherwise not get health insurance to have access to health insurance. It enables people who are uninsured due to pre-existing health condition to access insurance through a temporary high-risk pool (Leonard 794). This helps Americans access health insurance and, therefore, save huge sums of money that they would have used to cater for hospital bills. In addition, it would ensure that people who have a higher risk of getting certain diseases due to their gender, race, or class to access health insurance. Research shows that people with African or Asian ancestry have a risk of suffering from various cardiovascular diseases than people from other racial origins. African Americans are usually less wealthy than people from other races. Therefore, by ensuring that they access healthcare insurance, Obamacare helps in improving the healthcare of people who have racial or class disadvantages.
Obamacare also enables individuals to receive free preventive health services after every six months at no additional cost. The preventive health services include screening of cancer and heart diseases. This helps in the identification of potential risks to the health of individuals. Thus, Obamacare has helped in improving health of Americans. It is a major step towards the provision of universal healthcare (Woodward 583). When doctors detect diseases in their early stages, they are easy and less expensive to treat than if they were in an advanced stage. This enables households to save enormous sums of money that they would have spent on hospital bills if the patient discovered the ailment at an advanced stage. In addition, free preventive healthcare services enable people who would otherwise not receive healthcare to access healthcare services. This would ensure that people who have low incomes to access healthcare services.
Impact of Obamacare on Women’s Healthcare
Obamacare has several provisions that benefit women profoundly. Women do not have to pay more to access various reproductive health services. Prior to the enactment of Obamacare, some health insurance schemes used to charge women higher premiums since they have higher healthcare exenses than men. Obamacare eliminated the additional costs that health insurance companies used to charge women. Therefore, women pay a sum of money that is equivalent to what men pay to access health insurance. Therefore, Obamacare has led to the elimination of discrimination on women by insurance companies. Since people do not choose the sex they would prefer, it would be unethical to charge women more simply because of their gender.
Enactment of Obamacare enabled women to access a large number of preventive healthcare services. Insurance companies would cover these additional services. Obamacare enabled women to access gestational diabetes screening. Gestational diabetes is a serious pregnancy-related ailment. Insurance companies would also cover the costs of counseling sexually active women who contract sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, they would cover the cost of mammograms and colonoscopies. Insurance companies would also cover the costs of HPV DNA testing for women who are more than 29 years old. Women are major victims of domestic violence. Therefore, counseling victims of domestic violence would help to improve the health status of women. Obamacare requires insurance companies to cover the costs of screening and counseling victims of domestic and interpersonal violence (Fanning 9). Prior to the enactment of Obamacare insurance companies did not cover the costs of these services. Therefore, Obamacare has greatly improved the health status of women. In addition, it has reduced the amount of money that women pay to access various healthcare services.
Conclusion
It is vital for countries to have healthcare policies that all people have access to healthcare services. Obamacare strives to ensure that there is universal health coverage. It ensures that insurance companies to do not discriminate various people. Obamacare prohibits insurance companies from preventing people with pre-existing conditions from accessing medical insurance cover. Generally, women have higher healthcare needs than women. Obamacare ensures that insurance companies do not charge women higher premiums. In addition, it ensures that people receive free preventive health services after every six months. Preventive health services help reducing the occurrence of various ailments. In addition, it helps in reducing the cost of healthcare. This would ultimately improve the health status of all Americans. Obamacare focuses on women’s health. Obamacare’s focus on women’s reproductive health is one of the major factors that made Obama receive the support of more women than Romney during the recent elections. Critics of Obamacare argue that it increases the tax burden on Americans. However, the increase in taxes would help in saving the lives of millions of Americans. This would enable them to contribute towards the economic growth of the U.S.
Works Cited
Fanning, Mary. “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Why it is important for women’s health.” Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought, 6.1(2012): 1-11. Print.
Leonard, Elizabeth Weeks. “The Rhetoric Hits the Road: State Resistance to Affordable Care Act Implementation.” University of Richmond Law Review, 46.1(2012): 781-822. Print.
Veenstra, Gerry. “Race, gender, class, and sexual orientation: intersecting axes of inequality and self-rated health in Canada.” International Journal for Equity in Health, 10.3(2011): 1-11. Print.
Woodward, Cal. “High court sanctions law edging US toward universal health coverage.” Canadian Medical Association Journal, 184.11(2012): 583-584. Print.