The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has dramatically improved health coverage in the United States, but too many Americans still need to be insured or underinsured. The issue is to provide comprehensive coverage for all low-income Americans and make it more affordable for middle-income citizens. This paper will describe three possible policy options for decision this issue.
Option one suggests leaving the current policy unchanged. This option does not require any financial expenses and other efforts. But about 27 million low-income people will still need help to get health insurance. Thus, the problem will not be solved and will grow. Option two includes allocation of 100 percent federal eligibility to states that have not expanded Medicaid and providing subsidies to people with incomes below the 100 percent national poverty level who would not otherwise be eligible for Medicaid (Brooks-LaSure et al., 2020). Tax credits for middle- and low-income people will help make insurance premiums more affordable. Politicians could also make reinsurance, which protects individual market plans against high medical costs.
Option three is the public option or purchase exercised that at the federal level could help address affordability and coverage issues. Therefore, after studying all options, I propose to use the third one, which involves the use of public option instruments. The ACA has performed well, but 27 million people are still uninsured and unable to pay for health care out of pocket. A public option will significantly reduce healthcare providers’ prices (Brooks-LaSure et al., 2020). The cost reduction is achieved through lower administrative costs, and as there will be no profit motive in a public option, it can offer better coverage. The downside of this approach is that it will make health care more accessible to people in the middle class, but people with low income will still have difficulty getting coverage.
Reference
Brooks-LaSure, C., Fowler, E., & Mauser, G. (2020). Building on the gains of the ACA: Federal proposals to improve coverage and affordability: An examination of strategies to extend health insurance coverage to all low-income Americans and increase coverage affordability for middle-income Americans. Health Affairs, 39(3), 509-513. Web.