Barack Obama has won the election: what to expect for the health care program

Obama has obtained victory again on this years elections. That allows him to continue with his health care program as planned. His health care reform law will then move forward. That doesn’t means it will not receive some opposition from some conservative members of congress but with Obama as president the chances are it may pass through. Would it have been Mitt Romney to have won, he would have repealed and replaced that health care program.

The Obama health care law is designed to make sure that all Americans have access to health care by the year 2014. That law is referred to as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The process of implementation of that law is already in progress but there are still some hurdles that the president will have to deal with. The new law itself brings in some new features that will depend on congress funding to be implemented. One of those features is referred to as the “Health Insurance Exchange” and the other one is an expansion of the Medicaid program. The health insurance exchange will enable Americans to buy health insurance online while the Medicaid program will expand the number of Americans who can have access to health care.

Obama policies have been known to encourage government spending. Even though the supposed spending is said to be in the right direction, he has received criticism from some members of congress. This means this coming new year will be heated with debate as to how the new health care program should be implemented. For sure that the next 2 years this hot debate will be shaped by which party controls the House and Senate.

The fact that Obama will have to deal with some forces that oppose his health care program means he may also have to consider bending the rules and finding a compromise. He may have to reduce the amount of money made available by the government. That money is supposed to help people afford the insurance. The Medicare budget may also have to be cut down. The truth is the government already has a huge debt deficit to deal with and the health care program is intricately tied to government spending.

When it comes to the Medicaid expansion program the Supreme Court has upheld most of the health reform laws. Nonetheless each state is still left the choice to take part of the expansion program if it chooses to do so. If this expansion should be passed, 17 million additional people will have access to health care nationwide.

As for the exchange program, time doesn’t seem to be on its side. It is supposed to be up and running by October 2013. So far 15 states have plans to setup their own exchange. For the states unwilling to have their own exchange plans, the federal government will be in charge of it.  The Obama health care law is designed to make sure that all Americans have access to health care by the year 2014. For more information on the ACA, check out this nice overview. That law is referred to as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Whatever the difficulties ahead, Obama will surely do everything in his power to make sure that his health policies get implemented before he leaves office.