Healthcare Case

For this weeks research assignment I decided on the topic of healthcare (ObamaCare to be exact) and how it affects individual families. At first I was a little confused if this topic fell under microeconomics and then I realized that health care is considered a private good or, a product produced by firms for sale to individual households. People can be excluded from the benefits if they do not pay for it. Just recently the Supreme Court ruled that President Obama's health care reform was indeed constitutional and although the benefits of the legislation kick in over the next several years, most of the taxes to pay for them begin immediately. The article I read on Daily Finance explained how lifetime limits on coverage, price gouging and other cost cutting measures are now illegal. When technology becomes more advanced it becomes more and more expensive because the equipment and procedures have become more expensive. Prior to ObamaCare the graph that showed this trend was graph A because demand for healthcare is high and people are willing to pay in order to keep their families alive and healthy.

Under ObamaCare medication is supposed to get cheaper as well as coverage and treatments. This is relevant to individuals and microeconomics because they can now afford to get proper treatment without stressing how they are going to pay off their medical bills. I say supposed to because there are various debates on whether or not some people are going to lose their health insurance (mainly the senior citizens). I have not read the entire health care bill so personally I do not know but this is what I gathered from my research.

1) According to an article I read in The Week, if you are a lower income citizen, the law decides whether or not you have coverage. If you are a higher income citizen, it will impact how much you pay for health care. If you own a small business, it might determine if you must purchase health insurance for your employees. And if you work for a large business, it may determine whether you still receive your insurance from your employer (The Week. 2012).

2) Its true that 20% of all Medicare recipients might see their premiums rise or their current coverage vanish altogether but its also true that every American over the age of 65 will still be fully covered by Medicare.

3) Lastly I learned that the reason there is so much confusion is because the Medicare Obama is talking about is not the same as the one his rivals (such Mitt Romney) are speaking on. When Obama is speaking about cutting $132 billion he means from Medicare Advantage because so many people are taking advantage of this program because it allows people to receive their benefits through private health plans and then they use that to purchase things such as treadmills and elliptical for their homes.

The Daily Finance article goes on to explain the changes that won't necessarily be noticeable as opposed to the ones people