Affordable Care Act

Since approximately 1912, there have many efforts to reform our health care system. Many different people from presidents to members of the NASW board have proposed different health care reform bills, some of them being some kind of universal care for our country. The word "universal" is intimidating for many and because of this our health care system hasn't changed much, with the exception of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicaid and Medicare have made it possible for so many, such as those on social security, to receive health insurance. In 2010 The Affordable Care Act was passed, after many different negotiations, which is the start of a wonderful implementation of universal health care in the United States.

Implementing a great and affordable health care system is very important to most everyone, especially a social worker. A social workers job is to assist those less fortunate in acquiring the help they need, and because of this health care is one of the main concerns. Most social workers are members of the National Association of Social Worker (NASW) and because of this they have always played an active role in our health care system. Our health care system is a major concern for many in the United States so for NASW to be so extremely involved with health care reform is not surprising. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a bill that the NASW strongly supported because as one stated "It's a significant step towards a comprehensive and universal health care system for our nation" (cited in Gorin, 2010, p. 163). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented in order to help provide affordable health care for all individuals in the United States by replacing our current health care system to a universal health care system. Universal health care is a health care system that provides the same coverage for all individuals in society. The ACA is not only based on a universal health care system but will also cut many expenses and help with our national budget. Many have argued against and for this act, while pointing out it's pros along with its cons. After all of the careful consideration and extensive research, there did not appear to be a better result to health care then the ACA.

The ACA will address not only our health care concerns but many other issues we face as a country. One of the issues the act will help is lowering the amount of individuals without insurance by approximately $32 million. The ACA will also help the budget deficit and our chances of getting out of debt by decreasing the deficit by about $124 billion. Medicare payments to hospitals and other practices will also be considerably reduced because with executing a type of universal health care there is no competition so the procedures and appointments will cost the same for everyone. Physicians and institutions will no longer be able to set their prices. There are many benefits (besides the one's I listed) to passing the ACA; to ignore this would be unfavorable to our country. Most of these benefits would be greatly noticed by as early as 2019. So, in order to reap the complete benefits we must transfer to a complete universal health care system.

However, the one thing people are against with universal health care system and the ACA is the "individual mandate". The "individual

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