As a recipient of food stamps, and a beneficiary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare), I have a personal stake in these issues. Ohio is one of the 28 states that “opted-in” to Medicaid expansion, and in doing so, provided a safety net for individuals like myself… single male, no income, no dependent children, and no healthcare insurance. Currie discusses the problems of the uninsured, i.e., no primary care provider (PCP), which means no preventive care services, and having to seek medical treatment exclusively through the doors of emergency rooms (ER). This could be problematic, especially for children, who need preventive care services, as their body’s experience growth and change during the maturing process. There is another argument for public healthcare coverage… a possibly reduction in overall healthcare cost. …show more content…
The success of Medicaid expansion, e.g., improved infant and child care, reduced mortality rates, and increased access to doctors’ offices (instead of expensive ER visits), is hard to argue against. Unfortunately, 12 percent of children still have no health insurance, despite expansions in public health insurance. The 800-pound elephant in the public health insurance room is the states’ budgets. With the stroke of a pen, funding cutbacks can derail any positive gains for public health insurance for children. The ACA was one of the most contentious pieces of legislation to come down the pike since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and the importance of this piece of legislation is