The goal of the government in its policies should be to benefit its citizens to the best of its ability. The American Health Care Act seeks to take away vital benefits currently available to the most vulnerable in the United States because of hastiness, apathy, and good old concern for approval ratings. The American Health Care Act should be rejected because it causes help for the poor to be reduced, breaks for the wealthy to increase, and perpetuates a broken healthcare system. With the recent passing of the bill through the U.S. House of Representatives, there should be a greater concern for the outcome of future votes on this proposed law, as well as a renewed intensity for crafting the proper solution to our country’s healthcare crisis.
Goals of the American Health Care Act
The goals of the AHCA, as stated by the United States Department of Health and Human services, are many, but the purpose remains the same: to advance the health, safety, and well-being of the American people. The supporters of the American Health Care Act hope that it would accomplish this by making health care coverage more secure and affordable, emphasizing preventative care, as well as ensuring access to the most vulnerable of populations. In other words, it is intended to replace the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” with more effective policies. While those who support the bill have lofty goals, the bill itself will not be able to achieve them, and will likely make things much worse than they already are under the Affordable Care Act.
Reasons to Reject the American Health Care Act
The Center for American Progress predicts an increase in insurance premiums under the proposed bill for even basic services such as a completed pregnancy. This increase goes directly against the bill’s goal of decreasing costs for all people involved, especially those with the smallest incomes. Some of the Center’s estimates put this increase at as much as 425%. Kristina Wong emphasized the limited availability proposed by the American Health Care Act in her tweet, “If anybody needs affordable healthcare, I’ll be using YouTube tutorials to learn how to do major surgical procedures in my kitchen.”
Many of those in support of the bill do so because of their moral objection to abortion, yet, it does little to decrease abortions and actually harm more people if it were to be passed into law. First, Planned Parenthood is already prohibited from using any federal funds on abortions that are not as a result of rape or incest (99% of abortions that take place at Planned Parenthood fall into this category). Therefore, removing federal funding has absolutely no effect on the funds available for the clinics to use on abortions. However, it does have a negative effect on unwanted pregnancies. The American Health Care Act makes it impossible for those who are on Medicaid to use their insurance with Planned Parenthood. This means that contraceptive and disease testing (which makes up the majority of the services that are provided at Planned Parenthood clinics) would be unavailable. It only makes sense that without contraceptive care readily available, unwanted pregnancies would only increase.
Not only does this bill harm the conservative’s pro-life agenda, it harms lower income people who have limited insurance options. Planned Parenthood services over 2.5 million people. If the bill were passed into law, 100% of Planned Parenthood services would be off limits to Medicaid patients. 97% of those services are cancer screening, STD testing, and contraceptive care which means that the emphasis on preventative care, which was stated as a goal of the American Healthcare Act, is not accomplished. The bill removes the ability for the poorest people to have access to preventative care such as tests for diseases and cancers. Vinay A. Ramesh made this point in the tweet: “If you feel sick because House Republicans voted to repeal #Obamacare, there's a good chance the #AHCA won't cover you.”
States would also be allowed to charge higher premiums under the AHCA if a family or individual is unable to sustain continuous coverage for twelve months. This is an unnecessary restriction on people who are already at a disadvantage economically. Under the proposed bill, insurance companies are also able to charge older customers up to five times more than younger customers.
The bill was approved too quickly for there to be an estimate on the budget, which is ironic considering House Speaker Paul Ryan’s 2009 comments on Obamacare, "Well, yes, I don't think we should pass bills that we haven't read, that we don't know what they cost."
Change must occur, our healthcare system is broken. But this is not the way to fix it, and it is very likely to make American’s healthcare system worse. The American Health Care Act, as it is proposed, reaches very few of its proposed goals and causes many aspects of our healthcare system to be further damaged. The help that exists for those who are poor is reduced, there are more breaks for the wealthy added, and our broken system is perpetuated in the proposed bill.
