Affordable Health Care Act Hurting The Middle Class Or Helping The Low And Middle Class
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Background
The Affordable Care Act refers to an Act that became signed into law in March 2010 (Davidson & Stavich, 2011). It is a health care law, which aims at enhancing the health care system of Americans by broadening the health coverage and protecting the existing policy holders of health insurance. Different people have varied opinions concerning the Affordable Care Act based on its implication and benefits to them. Although the Act is viewed to benefit the poor group by offering them a health care plan that they could otherwise not access, it leaves various issues unsolved. For example, some of the issues with the Act are that, doctors lack incentive to specialize, insurance companies have issues concerning the implementation of new stipulations, and the middle income earners feel that they have the burden of paying for the poor groups (Feldman et al, 2010). This research will offer information regarding how people feel concerning the Affordable Care Act; especially the middle income earners. Since middle income earners face a problem of declining incomes as the price of basic commodities is increasing, this research will aim at finding out whether increasing the wages of the middle and low class individuals, that already have insurance, will contribute towards them going up. Key issues facing the middle income earners in the United States with regard to the Affordable Care Act will be discussed.
In conducting this research, the population segment under study is the insured middle income earners. These constitute of those individuals residing both in the rural areas and small town centers. The population segment provides workforce in varied sectors of the economy, which implies that all sectors of the economy are put into consideration. One of the major social issues that the middle income earners are facing entails the declining income while most of the basic products have an increasing trend in price; for instance, education, housing, insurance and energy. This implies that the middle income earners have a social problem of affording most of the basic products due to the increasing price of the products. Affording health is a key social problem facing the middle income earners as they are not capable of paying for their insurance; this makes them be against the Affordable Care Act. The following data depict the declining income for the middle income earners, and the increasing cost data on different basic products.
INCLUDEPICTURE “http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2012/08/sdt-2012-08-22-Middle-Class-01-11.png” * MERGEFORMATINET
The percentage of income distribution in the middle income earners is showing a decreasing trend, which implies that their income is also declining within the period given.
Source: HYPERLINK “http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html” http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
INCLUDEPICTURE “http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/USSTHPI_Max_630_378.png” * MERGEFORMATINET
The graph shows that the price of housing has been increasing over the years. This just one of the basic commodities that a middle income earner would require to keep life moving. With the decline in the income earned, it emerges that most middle income earners have issues affording basic commodities such as health.
Apart from the middle income earners having a declining income, they also have another problem, which is income inequality. Different individuals in the middle class have varied earnings as indicated in the graph below; because of the difference in incomes, different individuals have varied purchasing power, when it comes to the buying of the basic commodities (Tilly, 1991).
INCLUDEPICTURE “http://inequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/average-after-tax-income-by-income-group.png?6b3d07” * MERGEFORMATINET
Source: HYPERLINK “http://inequality.org/income-inequality/” http://inequality.org/income-inequality/
One of the social factors that contributes to the problem of decreasing income to the middle income earners constitute the increasing number of dependents. The size of families is increasing and has increased in the past few years, but the income level has not changed over the ears. The increasing number of dependants seeks job opportunities in the varied sectors, where the other family members are employed leading to overcrowding in the workplace. However, because everyone has to earn wages, there is a decline in whatever the families used to earn before. Since the wage does not match with the family size, affordability of health care becomes a problem. Besides, because of the higher proportion of individuals desiring to provide the labor, the wage rate declines leading to a declining earning over the years. On the other hand, wage inequality is caused by the level of education that exist between individuals. Individuals that are more literate receive a higher pay than those without education (George et al, 2006). In addition, experience constitutes another factor that influences the difference in the incomes; individuals with a lot of experience are likely to earn more than those with less or no experience.
Other than the social factors, cultural factors also contribute to the income inequalities between individuals. Based on the beliefs of some individuals, there exist differences in the type of work that one can do; for example, Muslims and Christians have different beliefs concerning the place of work. While a Christian can work confidently in a slaughter house selling bacon and cheese, it is exceedingly difficult for a Muslim to work in such an environment. Therefore, based on the beliefs, there will be inequality in incomes between individuals. Besides, the working habit of individuals determines the income earned. In addition, how one perceives a certain type of work also influences his earnings, which imply that different people will tend to choose between different jobs based on their perception towards the job. This creates income differences because different jobs attract different incomes. Because of wage inequality, the middle income earners have a problem in affording health.
The political aspect regarding the issue of affordability of health insurance is that politicians have an influence on the decision made concerning laws made by the government. This implies that, politicians can influence people to vote for the Affordable Care Act regardless of its impact on the middle income earners. After the passing of the Affordable Care Act, the politicians also have a mandate in ensuring that the Act is implemented. This implies that politicians will be against anyone opposing the Affordable Care Act since they influence the manner in which the Act becomes fully implemented as a law. Besides, the Affordable Care Act can become politicized such that the middle income earners bear all the cost of covering the health cost. For instance, politicians may fail to allocate funds on the health policy, which will shift the total burden to the middle income earners because the funds for the poor should be paid by the government, while the upper class does not need to pay for the health care since they can afford expensive health care (Hofer et al, 2011). Thus, failure of the government to chuck in resources for the care will imply that the middle income earners will pay for the health care alone since they are the major tax payers. On the economic aspect, the middle income earners will not have the capacity to afford the insurance cover because the price of other basic goods is on the rise because of inflation; house rent is also high for those middle income earners residing in small town centers. The increasing cost of rent and basic goods will make it difficult for the middle income earners to afford the health insurance. On the other hand, the middle income earners are highly taxed, which implies that they are left with little income to spend, which makes it difficult to afford the health care insurance. The legal aspect of the issue is that once the Affordable Care Act became a law, it has to be amended despite the effect on the middle income earners.
The ethical aspect of the issue is that a policy is not supposed to favor a certain group or individuals at the expense of others, but should benefit all stakeholders equally. The Affordable Care Act tends to favor the poor at the expense of the middle income earners since the poor do not need to contribute anything since it is catered for by the government; however, the middle income earners pay higher taxes in order to facilitate the success of the program. Based on the income that the middle income earners receive, they should not pay higher taxes than the upper class in facilitating the program. The Affordable Care Act is not ethical since it does not benefit all the stakeholders equally, or based on the contribution. Practically, the Affordable Care Act benefits the poor more than the middle income earners, who pay high insurance costs for the medical care. Based on the features of the Affordable Care Act, it is practical but affects the middle income earners the most, despite their declining incomes and increasing inflation.
Different levels contribute to the failure of the middle income earners to afford insurance for the health cover proposed by the Affordable Care Act; these levels entail personal, group and societal levels. At a personal level, the problem is usually contributed by the education level. The level of education determines what a person earns; therefore, individuals with low literacy levels receive low incomes, which implies that they will eventually have a problem with affording the insurance cover proposed by the Affordable Care Act. At the group level, the chief contributing factor of the issue is politics. Political leaders area usually involved in the making of policies, which affect taxation and rates. As a result of political leaders passing policies that encourage high taxation on the middle income earners, the middle income earners are immensely affected by the taxes leading to their failure in affording the medical insurance cover as proposed by the Affordable Care Act. On the other hand, at the societal level, inequalities in the incomes paid are the chief contributor to the affordability problem (Jennifer & Jeffrey, 2002). Because of the income inequalities in the society, middle income earners receive low income, which make affordability of the medical cover a problem.
The Affordable Care Act has personal, professional and ethical implications to the society. Because of the rising cost of insurance, individuals that are salaried will need to pay higher insurance premium, which implies that they will need to fetch deep into their incomes. This will definitely reduce the savings since the salaried will need to spend more than they used to before the Affordable Care Act. Besides, since the Affordable Care Act proposes health for all, some people may not have access to health facilities because of too much formality and congestion. The Affordable Care Act is going to impact the professionalism in the society; people will be focused more on the provision of the health care insurance for everyone; forgetting about the issue of the health care workforce. Failure to provide enough workforce will create problems in the society since the health care may have only a few professionals, which imply that the service delivery will be greatly affected. Because of fewer health care professionals and the increasing number of individuals requiring medical care, there will be inefficiencies in the delivering of services to the people, which may even lead to poor health care. Therefore, rather than enhancing the health care, the Affordable Care Act may negatively impact it. Besides, it is going to impact professionalism because although it provides a direction regarding the provision of health care, it does not provide a model concerning how health care providers will receive compensation for non-payment. On the other hand, the Affordable Care Act will also have ethical implications in society. Although the Affordable Care Act seeks to bring equality in the provision of health care to all individuals, it may be unethical because are not likely to receive health benefits commensurate to their payment. The Affordable Care Act leads to an increased insurance, but does not provide enough workforce. This implies that individuals will not be capable of receiving value for their contribution.
The two sociological perspectives that can be used in providing an explanation concerning the challenges faced by the insured middle income earners. The two perspectives are functionalist and conflict perspectives. The challenge faced by the insured middle income earners is social stratification, which makes it difficult for them to afford the increasing cost of insurance. According to the functionalist perspective, social stratification is deemed necessary so as to induce individuals with special knowledge, skills, and intelligence to enter the most vital occupations (Erickson & Goldthorpe, 2002). Hence, stratification is necessary and inevitable. Therefore, the insured middle income earners face the challenge because of their education level and level of intelligence. On the other hand, according to the conflict theory, social stratification is a consequence of lack of opportunity and due to prejudice and discrimination against a group. Therefore, it is not necessary and inevitable. Therefore, the insured middle income earners face the challenge of low income due to lack of opportunity. For example, most of the middle income earners are educated but lack the opportunity to have sufficient education to put them in the upper income group. The following data shows income inequality in the middle income earners, which is a principal challenge that they face. The following data illustrates the income inequality emanating from education, which is a key issue in the middle income earners. Depending with the level of education, income increase as the education level increases.
INCLUDEPICTURE “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Education_Median_Income_2.png” * MERGEFORMATINET
Source: US Census Bureau
Research Proposal
The social issue affecting the insured middle income earners constitutes the problem of wage that does not match up with their family size due to the influence of inflation. The research will involve determining whether an increase in the wages of the low and middle class individuals that are already insured contributes in keeping them going up. The research study is fundamental since there is little existing knowledge on the issue because only a few research studies to find out the same have been conducted. Carrying of this research will help in uncovering knowledge that was not revealed by the earlier studies concerning the issue of study. However, based on the current studies on the research issue, there are no meaningful solutions that have been offered, which implies that carrying out this study will provide an insight for future studies that will deal with the issue at hand. Since no meaningful solutions have been offered by earlier studies concerning the issue, this research will try to fill the gaps that earlier studies did not fill. On the other hand, this research will also try to determine the effects of inflation on the payment pattern of insurance with a potential increase in wages. Since inflation is considered a principal source of social problems such as an increase in commodity prices and insurance costs, it will be critical to find out the effects of inflation on the payment pattern of insurance services with the increase in wages. This will be critical since it will help in understanding whether it will be necessary for the government to increase the wage in the low and middle income groups.
This research will involve only one group of participants because the use of several target groups will lead to the study consuming a lot of time. According to Gray (2009), a researcher incorporating the use of varied distinct target groups forces a researcher to spend more time studying the groups. Therefore, in order to take less time, this research will deal with only one group of participants; the participants will engage insured middle income earners. The time that the research is scheduled to take will be a maximum of one month. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that the research adheres to this timeframe, it will be vital to consider adopting staffing initiatives. According to Gray (2009), the process of collecting data and compiling it consumes a lot of time. This makes time the most vital factor to consider in conducting the research. Hence, it is exceedingly crucial to for a researcher to engage the help of all the research takers and participants so as to ensure that the study takes the shortest time possible. It is only with the assistance of the participants and research takers that the maximum time allocated to the research can be realized. Sometimes, the individuals conducting the research may not cooperate due to personal differences that emerge; this makes it hand to accomplish the research within the stipulated time. However, this research will ensure that the persons conducting the research cooperate with each other so as to complete the project within the time frame projected of one month.
From a staffing perspective, the research is projected to be conducted by two individuals. The two individuals will share duties as follows; the first person will be responsible for performing the process of collecting data from the participants while the second person will take the responsibility of compilation of the data collected. Through this cooperation between the two staff members, it will be feasible to realize the conduction of the research within the stipulated time of one month. The staff members that will engage in conducting of the research will be required to be competent enough and having the required qualification. This will ensure the research is conducted efficiently and with accuracy, which implies that there will be elimination of errors in the collection and compiling of the data. Besides, in order to ensure that the research is conducted within the projected time frame, the researcher needs to ensure that there is maximum cooperation between the research staffs and the participants. Since the required information comes from the participants, it is critical to ensure that the language used to the participants is easy to understand and simple.
From the target group, which comprises of insured middle income earners, a group of 20 subjects will be selected as the sample population, which will represent the interests of the entire population. This number was chosen since; according to research theory, it is fundamental to ensure taking a small proportion of a population from the participants in order to maintain objectivity. This provides a rationale for choosing the sample population as 20 participants. In drawing these subjects, the researcher will utilize simple random sampling where every participant of the sample population will have an equal opportunity of participating. One the sample population is identified, the researcher will continue to the data collection phase. In collecting data, the researcher will institute an online survey, where participants from the sample population will be required to vote in an independent manner. The voting will involve providing responses in terms of those in favor of the Affordable Care Act as of assistance to them, and those against the Affordable Care Act as hurting them. This implies that the online survey will be exceedingly easy for participants to take part in.
Once the data has been collected, the researcher will embark on data analysis. Emanating from the nature of the data collection method, and the form of data collected, the researcher will integrate the use of a statistical analysis tool, which in this case will be the Chi-square. Chi-square statistical will be used since it can successfully compare the observed data with the data that the researcher would expect to obtain according to the hypothesis of the study. Besides, the Chi-square will be used because of the nature of the research questions. According to Gray (2009), chi-square is used in testing a hypothesis with whether or not attribute of a sample. In fact, this is what the research question entails; it is focused towards determining whether increasing the wages of the low and middle class individuals, who are already insured, contributes towards keeping them going up. Therefore, the analysis tool chosen will be chi-square.
Thea successful completion of this research will be exceedingly essential to the academic field. Learners will benefit from using the solutions presented in this research in answering questions regarding the issue under study. The study will also add learners some knowledge they did not have before learning from the research; for instance, since there is no research that has explicitly provided a solution to the question under study, this research will help students gaining an understanding and adding knowledge concerning the question under study. Other researchers in the academic field are also likely to benefit from this research because they will use information presented in this research in building their research studies provided their research will have a relationship with the subject matter being studied. Besides, in the academic field, the research will add up to the existing information and at the same time fill the gaps that earlier researches have not filled. Apart from being essential to the academic field, the research will also be essential to the society. To the society, the research findings and recommendations will be used in establishing the levels of wage increase that the government can provide to the workers with insurance so as to keep them up. This is a vital aspect to the society since it will help the government in eradicating social problems that emerge due to inflation and low income. On the other hand, for the agencies, the recommendations and findings will help in motivating them to seek ways in which they can mitigate current inflation because it is continuously hurting the population under study. Government agencies are likely to be the most beneficiaries of the resulting data. This is because the data provided by the study usually apply to the government agencies. Hence, the agencies will be ready to use the information in order to mitigate issues relating to inflation.
Conclusion
The signing of the Affordable Care Act into law was geared towards ensuring that every citizen, whether affluent or poor, has an access to affordable care. This was to be realized to be realized through the government providing a funding for the poor while the middle income earners and the upper class could contribute accordingly in order to make this Act a success. However, it has emerged that most individuals have varied perspectives and feelings concerning the Affordable Care Act. This is in regard to those who are against the act and those who are for the Act. Some individuals claim that the government will require to contribute a lot of resources in order to fund the project while others see it as a good move by the government. The poor are for the act because they seem to benefit the most, while the mid income earners who are insured view it differently. According to the insured middle income earners, they are the most contributors of the health cover proposed by the Affordable Care Act because they are highly taxed, despite their declining incomes. Factors leading to the declining income entails, income inequality, increasing number of dependants and inflation. Because of the low income that the insured middle income earners receive and inflation, they are not capable of paying for basic commodities such as rent and health. Research indicates that by increasing the wages of the low and middle class individuals, who are already insured, is a vital aspect since it contributes towards keeping them going up. Therefore, the government should focus on determining the wage level that needs to be paid to the low and middle income group individuals, with insurance, so as to keep the level of inflation down and keep the individuals in the group going up. This will be critical in reducing the number of individuals that cannot pay for basic commodities.
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