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Healthcare in America

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Healthcare in America
B. Powers
ENGL103-1204B-01: Composition: Writing and Research
Colorado Technical University
December 24, 2012

Improving the access and affordability of health insurance coverage for all Americans should be a primary concern for those who help create the laws of the land. At this date, there are roughly 44 million Americans without any type of healthcare coverage. Another 38 million people have inadequate health insurance (PBS, 2012). What this all means is that the people who need it the most are putting off seeing a doctor until last moment and then usually end up visiting an emergency room. If they cannot pay for the visit, the cost of that ER visit falls back on the taxpayers, people who have health insurance coverage, and the Federal Government.
The young, under the age of nineteen, are usually covered by Medicaid and the elderly, 65 and up, are usually covered by Medicare. The people lost in the middle are mainly those aged 19-64, who are uninsured and do what they can to keep themselves healthy. When that does not work, the local health departments and emergency rooms are expected to take up the slack.
Of those who may have health insurance coverage, that coverage comes through their employer. The people who have insurance through their employer make up about 56% of the population American workers, while about 11% have privately purchased insurance (Jovanovic, et. al., 2003). The people who do not have traditional jobs such as those who work part-time, work through a temporary agency, or work for a small company who does not provide health insurance, make up 29% of the American population that is uninsured. The increasing rates at which insurance premiums are rising are contributing factors in working people who do not have healthcare coverage or even adequate coverage.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was

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