HealthThe Global Is Local

Obamacare? Isn’t That Socialized Medicine?

By September 19, 2013 No Comments

A recent trip up the East Coast to visit family and friends presented a brief but intense glimpse into the debate that still rages around the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, now often referred to as Obamacare, even by the President himself.

Some aunts were very enthusiastic, some suspicious, some entirely opposed, and everyone confused. Many people I talked to — friends, family, and brief acquaintances — had some facts that they were holding onto firmly, which often informed their overall opinion. Some facts were more factual than others, but given the scope of the legislation and the broader health care debate, this is hardly surprising. A representative of the Kaiser Family Foundation health news branch was on NPR this morning, and she pointed out that many of those that the law is likely to benefit most don’t even know that they will soon be eligible for coverage.

If you have concerns about your own eligibility and how to move forward, I recommend Leanne’s post, A Guide to Shopping for Health Exchange Insurance Plans, that ChangeEngine published earlier this week. She links to several other resources that could also help further your understanding. But a more cerebral question has now been kicking around in my head for the past 48 hours: if clever, well educated people with lots of resources have a hard time grasping the basic elements of this law, and the implications that will soon be forthcoming, how on earth will someone who has a limited social support network, perhaps limited internet access, and other limitations fare?

I believe that the roll-out of the ACA will have a net societal benefit, but on the individual level, many questions remain. Questions of access, for instance, as I just mentioned, or of equity for those caught in between economic categories: too ‘wealthy’ to qualify for Medicaid, too ‘poor’ to access high quality insurance products. There are answers out there to these questions, and I plan to devote myself to finding as many of them as I can between now and the beginning of October, when the open enrollment begins on state exchanges and Healthcare.gov, the federal portal.

If you have burning questions that you would like to have answered, please put them into the comments section at the bottom of this post. If there are a sufficient number of questions to warrant it, the next edition of this column will be devoted to answering them. If not, I will endeavor to answer the most pressing concerns that I have heard from friends and family over the past week, since I am confident they will apply to just about all of us.

In the meantime, please stay healthy!

Author Adam Conway

Adam Conway is a recent transplant to Baltimore, an advocate for intelligent, holistic policy in government and industry, and a potter. After receiving undergraduate degrees in art and psychology, Adam pursued a career in mental health care, serving those with mental illness in residential and community settings. In 2011, he completed a Master's in Public Health Policy at the University of Pittsburgh, and is now devoted to addressing systemic issues affecting the entire population- health, environment, food, and policy. He also has been making functional and decorative pottery for over ten years (www.FreeRangePottery.com) in community studio settings because he likes people and is inspired by their work. Any opinions expressed in Adam’s articles are his own and are not intended to represent those of any agency or organization for which he is employed.

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