PPACA ANALYSIS 1
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Analysis
Kincaid Hamblin
Arizona State University
PPACA ANALYSIS 2
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the most misunderstood pieces
of legislation of contemporary America. In addition to being widely misunderstood, it is also
potentially the most polarizing series of policies introduced this millenium. This is due to a
number of ethical concerns that are an inherent factor in the PPACA achecture, that unfortunately
are also frequently misunderstood. There exist a number of legitimate ethical concerns that
should be widely understood and more thoroughly developed, but these legitimate ethical
concerns are often muddled by hearsay and at times conspiratorial thinking that hinder actual
understanding and meaningful political action/participation. These are among the obstacles to
meaningful dialogue about healthcare and the PPACA in America. When one really considers the
ethical and procedural considerations of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act the
bigger picture can be much easier to take in.
The first and arguably most important ethical considerations to address when discussing
the affordable care act is its most visible, and that is the individual mandate. Every citizen in
America is subject to the individual mandate. The individual mandate decrees that every citizen
in the United States must have health insurance of some kind or pay a yearly tax penalty. This is
an incredibly brazen and at first appearances unusual mandate for a healthcare bill to have, but
upon further analysis one can see why that type of policy may have been drafted. One may feel
that being forced to buy health insurance under penalty is a low personal freedom direction for
America to go regarding healthcare, but the resulting statistics speak for themselves when
analyzed from a distance. Most importantly, since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
was implemented, over half of the population of uninsured Americans was eliminated. This is a
huge accomplishment for any modern society, as the actual number of United States citizens who
PPACA ANALYSIS 3
were given healthcare was almost 24 million individuals (CBO, 2017). If one can imagine the
amount of resources and effort a modern government would require to insure 24 million
additional people, one can get a greater understanding of just how significant of an
accomplishment this was. This is one of the factors that one must consider when addressing the
ethical considerations of the PPACA and the individual mandate, as the actual amount of human
suffering it alleviated was nothing short of spectacular, a huge ethical concern when analyzing
the merit of the PPACA. However, one must also consider the sorry state of the healthcare
options in America, and therefore what Americans are forced under financial penalty to
consume. These private healthcare options would be sufficient if out of control healthcare costs
were not a factor, but as of right now can be argued to represent a degree of corporate welfare.
This is a highly important ethical consideration of the PPACA that is rarely dissected at length.
Instead, a plurality of citizens are concerned with fake or imagined ethical questions surrounding
the PPACA. This includes death panels, a common misconception popularized by Sarah Palin
(Holan, 2009). This was interesting because it flew directly in the face of what the PPACA
sought to better regulate, and that was the predatory denial of coverage of citizens for
pre-existing conditions or care for being too old of age. Despite the bill being designed to
directly limit what could be considered a “death panel,” this ethical misconception persisted. A
study in 2012 found that 39% of Americans believed the myth (Viebeck, 2016), a disheartening
number that shows the importance of clear unbiased discussion on the subject matter, especially
in regards to ethical concerns. This seems to be one of the biggest hang ups and
misunderstanding people have in regards to the ethics of the PPACA, and deserves greater
discussion.
PPACA ANALYSIS 4
Proper analysis of the ethical considerations of complex legislature is of utmost
importance. Not properly understanding legislation as far reaching and consequential as the
PPACA is what prevents real progress from being made, as citizens may have a bias or aversion
to policies that will improve their lives. This is an example dialogues like this are so critical to
facilitating actual meaningful change. May we take this information and do better to understand
potential life changing legislation and its benefits for our entire country.
PPACA ANALYSIS 5
References
Health Insurance Coverage and the Affordable Care Act, 2010-16. CBO. (2017). Retrieved from
[Link]
Holan, A. D. (2009, August 10). Sarah Palin falsely claims Barack Obama runs a 'death panel'.
Retrieved from
[Link]
obama-death-panel/.
Viebeck, E. (2016, February 3). Poll: Four in 10 believe in Obama healthcare law 'death panels'.
Retrieved from
[Link]