Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 Essay

Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Affordable Care Act) Passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 by Congress, followed by it’s signing by President Obama on March 30, 2010, completes a massive overhaul of the nation’s health insurance and health delivery systems. The Reconciliation Act amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which President Obama signed on March 23. Combined, the two new laws include more than $400 billion in revenue raisers and new taxes on employers and individuals. The social and political struggles of the American population served as a key contributor to the push for the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 to be formed and written into law. These struggles include but are not limited to an increasing unemployment rate of the nation which essentially meant that the average American was becoming less and less able to provide for himself and his family, therefore making the prospect of getting health insurance or paying for higher education a weightier endeavor. Also the number of Americans without healthcare was on an exponential rise and more and more people were unable to get healthcare, and take care of themselves, a condition that is detrimental to the GDP of the nation. The Affordable Care Act has shaped social, economic and political consciousness since its inception in 2010. More companies are open to providing their employees with health insurance options as the Affordable Care Act has increased subsidies to companies that provide their workers with healthcare options. The Act has also significantly increased the number of young adults with healthcare as children up to the age of 26 are able to stay under their parent’s health coverage plans. Also the $250 million the government provides in grants to the health insurance companies has assisted in cracking down on the premium hikes that were common in the pre-Affordable Care Act era. Now Americans can peacefully sign up for healthcare with the guarantee of fairly constant premiums that they know they can afford and keep up with. Numerous groups are opponents of the Affordable Care Act. Notable opponents of the Act are the Republicans and the more conservative and capitalist population of the nation. They believe that the reform would lead to government take over of healthcare and in the long run a socialist nation. They also believe that the implementation of the law would force tax payers to contribute tax dollars towards the funding of abortion; an issue that steal remains controversial in political gatherings and legislation. Lastly these opponents feel that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act into law in 2014 will ultimately drive companies to stop providing health coverage to their employees as they believe the bill does nothing to bring down the cost of healthcare as the government is transferring all the burden to the companies, strengthening their argument that the Act only strengthens a socialist system in America.