The Human Face of ObamaCare

The Human Face of ObamaCare truly does show the human face of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or ObamaCare) as more than 50 stories of real patients and their families best illustrate the continuing problems of the health care system. The ACA has helped many millions of people since its enactment in 2010, but has fallen far short of what is needed to improve access, affordability, and quality of U. S. health care. Much of our population still cannot afford health care, and there is no cost containment in sight. Underinsurance is the new norm, with narrowed networks, high deductibles, and increasing cost sharing forcing many people to forego necessary care.

So, what’s next? Dr. Geyman takes a look at the ACA almost six years after its passage. He takes an evidence-based approach to assessing three major alternatives for further health care reform: (1) continuation of the ACA with improvements as needed, (2) Republican proposals for its repeal and/or replacement, and (3) single-payer national health insurance (NHI).

Dr. Geyman delivers an evidence-based, objective, non-partisan, and well documented read for those interested in where our health care system is going and what it means for them – and, especially during this election season, that should be all of us!

John Geyman, M.D. is Professor Emeritus of Family Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, where he served as Chairman of the Department of Family Medicine from 1976 to 1990. As a family physician with over 25 years in academic medicine, he has also practiced in rural communities for 13 years. He was the founding editor of The Journal of Family Practice (1973 to 1990) and the editor of The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine from 1990 to 2003. Dr. Geyman served as president of Physicians for a National Health Program from 2005 to 2007 and is a member of the Institute of Medicine, now the NationalAcademy of Medicine.