Obamacare and all of its controversies launched Monday, creating one of several rifts between the major political parties and resulting in government shutdown. Friday's article in Businessweek reported milestones the affordable health care program must hit months and years from now in order to achieve its intended purpose.
According to Businessweek, the opening days of Obama Care were "rocky but not disastrous". Success, cautioned Businessweek columnist John Tozzi, won't be realized for several years.
During the first week of the Affordable Health Care Act online registration was slow and "glitchy"; the servers couldn't sufficiently handle its users. Businessweek wrote that if such problems aren't corrected by November, the "glitches" might be signs of deeper problems with the software.
The age of enrollees is another statistic to carefully monitor, according to Businessweek. Based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, about seven million Americans will register for affordable health care by March; and 2.7 million of those must be young, healthy citizens. If not, the amount of elderly and sick buyers may overwhelm the young and healthy buyers intended to support them. It's no surprise that anti-Obama Care advocates, as per Businessweek, are advising young people to stay away.
The age of enrollees will also impact the price of insurance, Businessweek reported. One year from now, prices could rise dramatically rise if insurance companies "lowballed prices in the first year or incorrectly predicted the mix of healthy and sick people who would sign up", according to Businessweek. If, however, some of the mega insurance firms like United Health decide to enter the mix, premiums should go down, the article stated.
The final number Americans must focus on is 18 percent, which, according to Businessweek, is the proportion of dollars spent on healthcare each year in the United States - greater than in most rich countries. If that number is reduced by way of Obama's "mechanisms aimed at improving people's health while slowing the growth of medical spending" said Businessweek, then The Affordable Health Care Act is, by these projections, succeeding.
