The government, to put it bluntly, is on my nerves. I say this because I find it ridiculous that some feel it would be better to suspend the day to day operations of the many government agencies affected by the shutdown than to accept the Affordable Care Act, which has already been passed.
The only person I can speak for is myself, and my opinion can only come out of my own observations and understanding, but that being said I do not see the Affordable Care Act as threatening or detrimental to our country. The chief complaint among naysayers seems to be that they do not want to have to choose between being obligated to purchase health insurance and paying a fine. That is what keeps being repeated, but many low income families will be able to receive subsidized health insurance like Medicaid.
Therefore, if you really did not have the money to afford this fine (which is added to taxes and will not exceed $300 for a family in 2014) it would seem that you would fall into the category of those receiving subsidized healthcare. The only problem with this is that many states, mainly Republican states, are choosing not to accept the expansion of Medicaid. The right of the state to choose to accept this part of the act or not was a compromise made to accommodate those who did not want to accept the act; however, not accepting the expansion of Medicaid does leave families who may fall in between eligibility for Medicaid and ability to afford a health plan stuck paying a fine. It is only when the plan is not enacted in its entirety: i.e. the expansion of Medicaid is left out, that the problems arise with the Affordable Care Act.
I guess some people have a problem with the very concept of the government telling them what to do or the idea of giving money to the government in any way. Personally, I have more of a problem with the fact that the healthcare industry is often motivated by greed, using sick people to make a profit. Along with expanding the number of people with health insurance, the other aspect of the affordable care act is to place regulations on all insurance companies.
These regulations include things like allowing young adults to stay on their parent’s insurance during the underemployment, gap years, travel or whatever else may await between college graduation and age 26, more accessibility to preventative care, and requiring companies to insure those with a pre-existing condition.
It seems like a no-brainer that someone with a pre-existing medical condition would be highly in need of medical insurance, but insurance is more about liability and money and less about care, which is why regulating it to me is a way of giving Americans more opportunity to be treated fairly in an area where it can be easy to be taken advantage of.