Healthcare insurance must be more affordable; in the modern US, low-income people, especially immigrants, are uninsured and cannot afford health insurance coverage. Another concern in the US is that even those well-insured often have to travel around the country to find a healthcare program that will suit that person individually (Groce & Groce, 2020). The author does not have personal experience with this problem.
The most endangered category of people is immigrants. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), the main American instrument of providing health insurance, limits its coverage over some categories of immigrants, requiring citizenship and legal documentation, and does not account for undocumented years. Immigrants have to go through residence waiting periods as well (Tarraf et al., 2020). For those who do, as mentioned above, have insurance, the reason for their troubles is that most practices have a limited amount of insurance plans to choose from (Groce & Groce, 2020). These circumstances leave a portion of people in the USA without healthcare.
Demographics:
- As already mentioned, immigrants are the most affected by this problem. These immigrants were mostly Hispanic, with limited education (less than a high school diploma) and an income below 200% of the poverty level (Tarraf et al., 2020).
- In 2020, 28.0 million people did not have health insurance. The percentage of people with health insurance was 91.4 (US Census Bureau, 2021).
- Immigrants and American citizens did not have significant differences in what categories of them did not have insurance (Tarraf et al., 2020). Generally, ages 19 to 64 are less insured, as well as those separated from their spouses and those without a high school diploma, as is the case with immigrants, as documented above (US Census Bureau, 2021).
As for Values and Beliefs, three opinions exist in American society on the matter of health insurance. The first group claims that all Americans should get health insurance from Medicare. The second group stands for keeping the existing Affordable Care Act. The third group prefers the states to design their own health insurance systems independently (Americans’ Values and Beliefs About National Health Insurance Reform, 2019).
Health coverage and, by extension, health insurance is associated with the Democratic party. General democratization and left-wing groups have a tendency to expand health insurance.
Critical Analysis of the social welfare policy:
- The Government and the political elites have influence over the matter. Despite positive tendencies, a lot of people in the USA are still not covered by health insurance. Immigrants are the most endangered category of people in that regard.
- Most Americans’ opinion is that the federal government has to provide all Americans with health care coverage (Jones, 2020).
- To address the problem, several sources of insurance coverage, such as TRICARE, Medicaid, and SCHIP, have been introduced. Starting in 2014, the Affordable Care Act made it required everyone to have health insurance or pay a fine. Health insurance coverage among adult immigrants has increased after its inception (Tarraf et al., 2020).
The author would work in favor of providing health insurance to everyone. The possible measures for it are, on the other hand, making health insurance programs more multipurpose so that they can offer suitable plans for more people. On the other hand, the matter of immigrants being endangered still stands. The possible solution is not to give them health insurance freely but to simplify the procedure of their becoming American citizens and shorten the residence waiting periods. In these circumstances, the procedure of gaining health insurance will naturally become less complicated as well.
This assignment helped the author to see themselves as an advocate for social welfare. It has been a useful experience, as the author has learned more about what is already done on the chosen social justice matter and what has yet to be done.
References
Americans’ Values and Beliefs About National Health Insurance Reform. (2019). HealthCare for All Colorado Foundation. Web.
Groce, N. E., & Groce, N. (2020). In the US, even those with excellent healthcare insurance plans struggle. BMJ, m808. Web.
Jones, B. (2020). Increasing share of Americans favor a single government program to provide health care coverage. Pew Research Center. Web.
Tarraf, W., Jensen, G. A., Li, Y., Toseef, M. U., Mahmoudi, E., & Gonzalez, H. M. (2020). Changes in Insurance Coverage and Healthcare Use Among Immigrants and US-Born Adults Following the Affordable Care Act. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 8(2), 363–374. Web.
US Census Bureau. (2021). Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020. Census.Gov. Web.