Health care has been a real hot topic in the media and in the public for a couple of decades now. While many were complacent with the way the health care system was being run before the 1980s, that all changed. Many people became concerned with the ever-increasing costs of health insurance and the decrease in actual coverage. The costs for health insurance became so high that employers were no longer the primary way of obtaining a health insurance policy. Individuals and families were seeking health insurance in various other ways in order to try and save money. Then, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (AFA) into law in 2010. The law was supposed to be a shining light in the darkness of health care. One of the most controversial portions of the proposed law was the public option stipulation. Before the Affordable Care Act was able to get passed Congress, the public option had to be eliminated.

The Public Option

What President Obama had originally envisioned was a way for all citizens to obtain health insurance no matter their socioeconomic level, in the same way much of the world's governments run health care. However, there was a lot of opposition to this public option stipulation. Essentially, in addition to the private insurance companies, which have run health insurance for many decades now, and Medicare and Medicaid, the public option would give people one more way to obtain health insurance. This new addition would cost much less in comparison to the private insurance companies while still providing the same amount of coverage. This would have been a great plan for those struggling to get health insurance.

Its Effect on the AFA

Although on the surface, the public option seems like a fantastic idea, it would have drastically changed the end result of the AFA. Adding that public option would have made other sectors of the law obsolete and unnecessary. As it stands, doctors are being given incentives to provide preventative care free of charge so that overall insurance costs can be lowered. However, if there was a public option, insurance companies would still be able to charge high rates because preventative care is the most used portion of any health insurance policy.

Pre-existing condition clauses have been eradicated since there is no public health insurance option for citizens. That means that private insurance companies must accept any and all citizens applying for coverage no matter their previous health history. This would have been a difficult stipulation to push if Congress had allowed the public health insurance option to proceed. Insurance costs will decrease while coverage will get better because of no public option.