The Affordable Care Act and Public Health
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 majorly emphasized the public health and disease prevention. Different groups carried out research to determine just how effective is the act. The research has indeed confirmed that the Act has some notable success and challenges as well. The information is important to the future legislators so they can know what parts of the Act should be amended in order for it to serve the public better. The Affordable Care Act was meant to provide public health with some budgetary flexibility. Besides, it was meant to provide important funding to most of the public health services. Different programs were established to increase the strategic planning of public health matters and this indeed proven to be very successful. The Affordable Care Act managed to increase admittance to clinical preventive services resulting from the expansion of insurance coverage.
Contraceptive Coverage and its Impact
The Affordable Care Act requires that different businesses should provide their employees with health insurance which includes contraception coverage for females. Providing women with free contraceptive services has completely affected the payment for the services (Chuang, Mitchell et. Al. 2015). After the Act was effected, the number of women who went for the intrauterine devices increased by up to 50%. Besides this, the number of women who took pills went for the ring and those who went for the injected contraception increased by more than 50%. Hence, it is clear that many women needed the services but the major problem is that they could not afford them. They had to go for the services immediately after the act was implemented in order to benefit from the free services. However, the contraceptive coverage is a very divisive issue among different groups such as certain business people who do not believe in the idea of birth controls. Hence, they do not find it right to provide insurance for services they do not approve. Government-funded insurance has for a very long time been covering contraceptives even before the Affordable Care Act was effected. Different states had laws that instructed the insurance companies to secure a cover for contraceptive methods. These particular laws were different from the ACA law but the end results were somewhat similar. A survey conducted on employers indicated that 85% of the large employers had already complied with the Act whereas only 62% of the small employers had complied.
Loosening Eligibility Requirements for Medical Family Planning Services
The ACA demanded that there should be a loosening of the eligibility requirements related to the medical family planning services. In the past 20 years, the state has been recommending that there should be an increase in the income threshold or another strategy that will ensure that women can easily access affordable family planning services (Bearak, Finer, Jerman, & Kavanaugh, 2016). The state usually receives funds that are meant to support projects aimed at improving different medical services. These projects among them the waiver program, have proved to be effective in reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. The women can easily access safe and quality contraceptive methods. The women are given the chance to space their pregnancies as they wish, and besides, they acquire all these services at a very affordable cost.
Opposition to Birth Control and Reproductive Rights
The remaining percentage of business owners that are opposed to the different types of birth control feel that it is against their religious beliefs. For this reason, therefore, they feel that it is their right not to implement this particular act and hence do not purchase the plan which provides affordable contraceptive methods. Some them feel that most of the companies that provide these contraceptives are only out there to make profits (Chuang, Mitchell et. al 2015). Besides, they are opposed to them due to the high number of side effects that are associated with the different birth control methods. They feel that birth control is morally wrong. However, in my own opinion, I totally disagree with this idea. There is nothing wrong with birth control methods. The health of women can be improved if only they are given the chance to make their own decisions regarding their reproduction such as sex, contraception, and abortion. The only concern that those who oppose the idea raise are based on the right to right reproduce and procreate. They do not believe in processes such as the in vitro fertilization since according to them it is a morally unacceptable process. In case women are given the chance to plan when to and when not to have children, cases of street children would reduce drastically. Besides, the number of unsafe abortions would reduce since there would be no more unwanted pregnancies. Poverty would also reduce since the population would be increasing in an organized manner. Children are a blessing just like the religious people say but it is important that one gets a child that they have planned for.
Politicization of Birth Control and Reproductive Rights
Birth control has been politicized in such a manner that it is now viewed as a political act. Women are always afraid each time a new government if formed since they are not sure how the new president will define their reproductive rights. For instance, immediately after Trump became president, many people went to seek for the IUDs since they did not know how Trump would interpret their reproductive rights. Women activists went on social media urging their fellows to seek out for the method since it can last for up to twelve years. President Trump stated that he was going to defund Planned Parenthood, which is the only organization in the US which provides contraceptives to women in the country (Aiken & Scott, 2016). Besides, he also stated that he would do away with the Affordable Care Act that guarantees women affordable contraceptive methods. Hence, women preferred getting the IUD before Trump implemented his policy so that they could be safe before the IUDs are no longer available in the country. Currently, most women in the country have no idea on what will happen to them in the future in case President Trump dismantles the Affordable Care Act and defunds the Planned Parenthood organization.
Conclusion
The Affordable Care Act is critical to the vast population and hence the business owners should appreciate and also adopt it. Women should be given the chance to access affordable contraceptive methods. Family planning is important especially to women’s reproductive health. Family planning is not immoral but at the same time, it is important to respect the views of those who believe that it is unethical. The politicians should not interfere with birth control as Trump did, but rather they should educate the citizens and live it up to them whether to go for the contraceptive methods or not.
References
Aiken, A. R., & Scott, J. G. (2016). Family planning policy in the United States: the converging politics of abortion and contraception. Contraception, 93(5), 412-420.
Bearak, J. M., Finer, L. B., Jerman, J., & Kavanaugh, M. L. (2016). Changes in out-of-pocket costs for hormonal IUDs after implementation of the Affordable Care Act: an analysis of insurance benefit inquiries. Contraception, 93(2), 139-144.
Chuang, C. H., Mitchell, J. L., Velott, D. L., Legro, R. S., Lehman, E. B., Confer, L., & Weisman, C. S. (2015). Women’s awareness of their contraceptive benefits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. American journal of public health, 105(S5), S713-S715.
