Effects of the government shutdown on the Healthcare Industry
Written by Alice Mason
It was for the first time that the federal government had to face partial shutdown in the last seventeen years. The U.S. Treasury is draining its capability of borrowing money soon under debt limit. Though the stakes are quite high, the lawmakers are still not able to make the fiscal debates successful. At the origin of the fiscal debate is the scope and the size of the federal government. It consumes not less than one-fifth 22% of the GDP or gross domestic product. In the meantime, the national debt which is nearly $17 trillion is now going beyond the economic product.
There are entitlement programs which seem to be the main driver of debt and federal spending. The only sector which is growing rapidly is healthcare and the not-so “Affordable Care Act” that will raise federal health care expenditures by 15% extra in 10 years. Without the reform, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid with Obamacare will be on the path to absorb almost more than half of the U.S. budget by the present decade’s end.
The present debate on budget has mainly two parts. One is the fund for Obamacare and the other is the circumstances during which debt ceiling may take place. There has been a difference in opinion over the funding level for the government agencies during this summer. The lawmakers have submitted resignation because the allotment method will be stalled. Rather than passing the 12 spending bills as the allowance method had called for, the lawmakers paid attention to pass a continued resolution by 30th September, 2013.
The Obamacare or Affordable Care Act is at the root of the difference in budget that led to the lapse of allotment-funding. The Act has become unwanted due to its negative effects like high premium amount, full-time working hours, high tax and loss of employer-provided coverage for your health. This is what you call the Affordable Care Act’s challenge. A law has been enacted by means of reconciliation which is a budget-process system and is designed to accord the differences in the budget proposals of the Congress.
It was President Obama and his associates who required some support of the Republicans to obtain fund for the law. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives have enacted the bills frequently which provided fund to the government, other than Obamacare and the Democrat-controlled Senate refused them. The government officials are draining exceptional steps that led the Treasury Department to pursue meeting the payments at the right time, in spite the fact that the debt ceiling was hit on 19th May, 2013.
The Americans have observed that Washington is facing double catastrophe of enormous debt and spending. According to the report of Bloomberg news service, almost two-thirds of the Americans believe that the Congress needs to reduce the expenses cut before growing the debt limit.
President Obama has denied to negotiate with the Congress for finding entitlement reforms and spending cuts that may be complied with before the debt limit is raised. While the United States is suffering from fiscal crisis, the lawmakers will have to employ a plan for solving the problem.
About the Author
Alice Mason is a Healthcare Global contributor
