Ethics

Due to increasing number of uninsured Americans, poor access to health care and rising costs of care, the Health Care reform Bill has been proposed under President Obamas administration. From the government sponsored proposed plan for ensuring all Americans have health insurance, there have been increased debates on quality of care among other issues. This work focuses on the way in which the reforms will affect quality of health care and at the same time identifies some of the groups that are for and those against the reforms. Reasons behind each argument as presented by each group will also be highlighted.

Impact of health care reform on quality of care
The effects of the health care reforms on quality of health care are both positive and negative. This arises mainly due to the effects of the high costs expected to be incurred in implementing the bill. It is estimated that the reforms may require about 635 billion over a period of 10 years. The quality issue therefore arises on how it will be possible to meet these costs without compromising on quality yet the low income earners will not be taxed further. With this view prevailing, it is expected that quality of health care will go down at the expense of covering everyone.

Since health insurance will be under the control of the government, quality of health care is predicted to go down. This is because private players will not be competing for prices any more and with lack of competition in price also comes lack of competition in quality. It also implies that the government will be the one to decide the quality of health care one receives, a type of rationing of health care.

Even with projections that quality will go down, a section of people believe that it will improve quality by attending to persons with pre-existing conditions and also make providers and third parties more accountable in their healthcare provision.

Groups for and against health care reform 
Political role in this debate is inevitable with majority of Democrats supporting it while most Republicans oppose it. The Democrats are for the reforms mainly on the argument that it ensures that every American has access to affordable and quality health care. They also argue that pre-existing conditions will also be covered by insurers adding up to patient protection. They also argue that doctors will receive incentives from the reforms thus motivating them to provide high quality health care.

The Republicans on the other hand are opposed to the bill citing that it will be very costly to run. They also fear that choice of health care will be scrapped out and eventually compromise on quality. The republicans complain that employers will prefer government run insurance which is of lower quality over private and high quality insurance. In addition, they also argue that middle class income earners will be overtaxed to finance the bill and this will translate to high cost of health care.

Other than political players, private insurance providers are also opposed to the plan out of the fear that they may get edged out of the market. This is because most people and employers will opt for government sponsored plans. Doctors also fear that they will be restricted in their earnings by being subjected to government directed remunerations.

In conclusion, the controversy over the health care reform bill is not yet over even with its successful development so far. So long as these controversies are not cleared in a satisfactory manner, the battle of arguments will persist.