Health care is a very controversial subject in today’s society. In 2010, Obama and his administration passed a law called the Affordable Care Act. It forces Americans to purchase government insurance or pay a heavy tax. The country is torn between people who agree with this act and those who think that it is absurd. The Affordable Care Act infringes on the rights of Americans, and ultimately it will fail.

TOO MANY NEGATIVES
First off, there is a lack of funding for the law. The country is already in debt. According to statistics, the health care law will cost 2.6 trillion dollars (Cunningham). As Milton Friedman once said, “We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork.” This quote from Milton Friedman is more than accurate. The hard working people who strive to pay for their insurance should not have to pay a tax if they do not want the government’s insurance. In fact, in some cases, the government insurance costs more for the middle class. People should not be “punished” for other people not being able to afford health care. The act has very good intentions. Intentions that do need to be addressed because of the number of people without health care. With that said, the act is hurting the middle class though. The act requires business owners with fifty or more employees to provide healthcare to the workers or the company will be fined (“Health Care Legislation”). This hurts small businesses. Growing businesses will cap their number of employees off at 49 until they know they can afford to provide 50 or more people with healthcare insurance. This special requirement decreases business growth. Again, this affects both the middle and lower class. Less jobs available. This affects the middle class because small business owners are typically hard working middle class people. The lower class is effected because they would most likely be the people hired for the business. The act is supposed to reduce the cost of healthcare, but in reality the government is spending more than ever on healthcare (Cummings). A first hand account is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann stating that her premium grew monstrously, and her deductible went up by four times than it was originally at (Bachmann). This is obviously a problem. Bachmann’s case is just one example of a family that is going to have to pay more for their health insurance then they would have if they were allowed stay with their old provider without having a penalty. Sadly this will be the case for a lot of people and families alike. Again, most likely effecting the middle class. Congresswoman Bachmann also goes on to say that people are going to get around the system, by paying a fee and then rearranging their taxes, so down the road they will actually not pay a fee. A high school economics teacher once said “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Meaning that nothing is ever free. Somebody is always paying for it. In the case of the Affordable Care Act, the middle and upper classes are paying for it as well as the government. The government is already trillions of dollars in debt. All the act is going to do is add on to that debt. How can the government afford to pay for the insurance of millions of people? The government cannot. The deficit will continue to grow. Obama called former President George W. Bush unpatriotic for Bush increasing the deficit. The irony in this statement is that Obama has increased the deficit by a lot more than Bush did. And now Obama has implemented Obamacare. This will only worsen Obama’s credibility with the people.

MISUNDERSTANDING AND PARTIES
One must wonder, if people do not even understand something fully, how can they like it or hate it? This is exactly what the Affordable Care Act is. Obamacare is the coined nickname for the Act. When polled, only 38 percent of the people approved of the act when it was called Obamacare, whereas 45 percent of the people approved when it was called the Affordable Care Act (Davidsen). This is the sad truth of it. The people are ill informed about the act as a whole. How is the country supposed to approve of something with which less than half of the people polled agrees with? Health Care has been a major topic for over 50 years (“The Cost of Health Care”). The overall argument has turned into party lines. There was a big government shutdown in the latter part of 2013. Both the Republican and Democratic parties could not come to a compromise on the Affordable Care Act. This is ridiculous because it should not be about party line. The argument has to be for the people. The personal freedom of the people. What also needs to happen is that the President needs to explain to the people exactly what the act entails. Mr. Obama blatantly lied to the American people about one part of the act. Saying that the people could keep their old insurance providers without being punished. Well, what a lie that turned out to be. Both Obama and Obamacare lost a ton of popularity after that little mishap. It did not bode well with the people as a whole. Directly quoted from Obama, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” This turned out to be one of the biggest lies of 2013. The people would most likely have more faith in the act if the people were not lied to by their leader. The White House administration may look at this like a little roadblock that they can easily surpass, but some people feel it is more than that. They want to know exactly what is to stop the President from lying to the people about Obamacare again.

VIOLATES RIGHTS
America was created through the rebellion against the British because the people were tired of being forced to do things that they didn’t necessarily want or need. The colonists emerged from the fiery pits of oppression. That was the reason they fought back against the British. Obamacare requires that by law that all people sign up for health care or pay a penalty. Should not this be the choice of the people? People having choices made for them is the epitome of oppression. It not only violates the Constitution, it violates the natural rights of the People stated in the Declaration of Independence. We have the right to make our own choice of healthcare. People should not be fined if they do not sign up for Obamacare. The people who can afford regular health care on their own should not be punished for this luxury that they have. Let’s face it. Not everyone is economically equal. If they were, The United States of America would be a socialist nation. Personal freedom is in the hands of the American people as stated in the constitution, but if the people allow laws like the Affordable Care Act, the government will continue to get more and more power. With more government power, the more socialist this nation becomes. The more socialized we become as a people and the more the people start to accept what the government is doing.

SOME PROS
Although the cons outweigh the pros, there are still many pros of the Affordable Care Act. First off, it is an act trying to increase the social well-being of the American people. President Obama is trying to do well with this act by having everyone in the United States covered. It is just in the wrong manner. The act is the first step towards what needs to be a better plan. A plan that does not take away personal freedom. Also a plan that is economically responsible to the nation as a whole. The country needs a plan that will not punish the middle class. One last pro is that the Affordable Care Act is taking the power away from insurance companies that can monopolize the market. Most people would all agree that monopolies are bad because they can just drive up the price. A con of having Obamacare is if a person is happy with his/her own insurance, they will not be able to keep it without a penalty fee. Some argue he fee is small. Less than $100 they say, but the key here is that the people still have to pay a fee. A fee that the government put into place only to help fund the law. A fee the people were not prepared to pay when President Obama stated that if the people liked their own insurance they could keep it. Period. Yes, Obamacare is the plan that the United States has come up with now. The bright side is that the government can just continually improve the act from this point forward. The American people must look to the future of health care so that they can keep their personal freedom in their everyday lives.
In conclusion, Obamacare is an act that most Americans do not approve of and does not have the funding needed and will lead to failure. A new plan is in need. New ideas and different ways to limit personal freedom from being taken away. The United States is a Nation of the People. A Nation of what the people want. Obamacare is not what the majority of the people want.


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