By Ana C. Posada
Approximately 69% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats say that healthcare costs are too high and should be lowered. Trump and his fellow Republicans have long vowed to end Obama’s legacy, and have taken the steps to do so.
Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010. It was designed to provide reasonably priced health insurance to the estimated 15% of Americans who were not covered.
From day one, conservatives rejected Obamacare. They called it a poorly executed “job killer” that imposed on private businesses and individuals and increased insurance costs. (Jazeera 2017).
It did this by offering discounts on government back health insurance plans that are sold through exchanges with websites similar to online shopping and travel sites, where buyers can compare prices for coverage.
By obliging all Americans to get coverage, the ACA attempted to get younger, healthy people to buy into policies, which eventually would reduce the cost of the medical bills being racked up by millions of older and sicklier folks.
Al Jazeera spoke with two Americans, an older woman who beat cancer, and a younger man who suffers from asthma, about how they felt about Obamacare.
“Without Obamacare, there wouldn’t be an insurance company in this country that would cover a 62-year-old, three-time cancer survivor with ongoing respiratory problems like me,” Smith told Al Jazeera.
“I needed Obamacare, and it didn’t do anything for me, so I opted not to get it,” Popovici told Al Jazeera.
“Obamacare works really well for low-income people and the poor, but for the middle class, it just doesn’t work at all,” Popovici said.
On January 20, Trump fired the starter pistol on ending it. That won’t be easy. Some 30 million people may lose coverage when the ACA goes.
Cutting benefits is harder for politicians than introducing new ones. Republicans talk of “repeal and replace”, but have yet to agree on the replacement.
It almost looks impossible for Republicans to come up with an alternative system that will please everybody. It seems that, at the very least, key parts of Obamacare will be cut, while others may still remain.
