Is Obama's Health Care Reform Ethical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Is Obama's Health Care Reform Ethical - Essay Example A recent study also revealed that in U.S., more than 44,800 excess deaths occur annually that can be associated with lack of insurance (Wilper et. al, 2009). These were the driving factors that led President Barak Obama to sign the new health care reform into law on March 23, 2010. President Obama’s health care reform was developed to achieve the following goals: To expand the population that receives health care coverage Expand the range of health care providers that consumers can choose from Improve access to health care specialists Improve the overall quality of health care services Provide more health care services Decrease the overall cost of health care services The new health care reform is estimated to reduce the number of uninsured in the country from 19% in 2010 to 8% by 2016 (International Insurance News, 2010). The provisions made in the legislation will be implemented in five phases over a period of four years. As I sat down to analyze this health care reform, I f ound that, although there are some important changes made in the reform, there are some disturbing issues as well. In the following pages, I will list the major features of the health care reform and state my position on it. Extend coverage through insurance mandate: The new legislation provides subsidies in insurance premiums and tax credits up to 35% of premiums for small businesses that employ less than 50 people to provide health care benefits. Those people who are not covered under Medicare or employer sponsored insurance will receive assistance through direct subsidies to purchase insurance through a new on-line exchange, an internet state run market place. Although at first glance, this appears to be a good change that should be implemented, there are specific aspects within the reform that is of great concern to me. The new reform supports abortion under health care, thereby directing federal funding towards abortion. Although on March 24th President Obama gave an executive order on abortion, it is insufficient to block federal funding of abortion under health care. Again, on July 29th , after the administration was exposed for having approved such funding in several states, the Obama administration released a regulation stating that elective abortions may not be covered in the high-risk pool programs. Under the new reform, $50 million have been allotted annually for school based health centers which can provide abortion services or contraceptives. Therefore, I feel that this reform is unethical since it promotes abortion and also directs federal money to do so. Guaranteed issue and individual mandate: Under the new law, health insurance will be made available to the 32 million uninsured Americans and insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions. Insurance companies will also not be allowed to impose higher premiums, cost sharing, black-out periods or cancel policies for minor errors in ins urance application. I feel that this aspect of the reform will benefit a majority of the customers whose applications would otherwise be turned down by insurance companie