Biden restored "Obamacare" and federal funds for pro-abortion NGOs

Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act has for years been one of the most discussed and opposed reforms by Republicans: the president has decided to revive it, guaranteeing public health insurance to those in need. And it opened on termination of pregnancy

(photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) With two executive orders, US President Joe Biden yesterday re-launched the Affordable Care Act - the health care reform promulgated by Barack Obama, and entered common parlance as Obamacare - and re-established federal funding for abortion-promoting NGOs. Yesterday's order reopened registrations for state-backed insurance policies, which were interrupted in November, from February 15 to March 15. A decision that will allow uninsured US citizens to access health protection at a time when the Covid-19 epidemic is worsening and vaccines are not yet available to everyone. "We must repair the damage done by Trump in the health sector, especially as regards women's health," said Biden.

How health coverage works in the United States

Unlike European practice, where the health system is predominantly public, where most of the expenses are borne by the state, the health system US is essentially private and relies on private insurance. For example, a single ambulance transport can cost the person in need between $ 400 and $ 1200. The Obamacare reform was designed to reduce health care costs, and to increase the quality and spread of health coverage. Under its provisions, each federal state must provide subsidies to allow everyone to have access to a policy; no insurance can deny the policy based on the state of health of the patient and companies with more than 50 employees are obliged to insure a majority of workers at their own expense.

Why Republicans oppose this decision

In the tradition of the US Republican Party, the state must minimize its interventions, leaving the management of services to citizens to the private sector and free competition. Obamacare is a welfare service that has led to an increase in health spending in US GDP, adding to health costs for individual federal states in the short term. Furthermore, a big reason for opposition concerns the profit margins of insurance companies, reduced by the provisions contained in the health reform, already listed above. The Trump administration has never managed to obtain the necessary majority in the Senate to abolish the Affordable Care Act, and for this reason it has acted with executive orders that have complicated access for people, preventing publicity of the existence of this protection.

Financing for NGOs that deal with abortion

With the second executive order, the president launched a message in defense of the right to terminate pregnancy in the United States and abroad . In fact, Biden canceled the so-called Mexico City policy, which prevented access to federal funds for non-governmental organizations promoting abortion around the world. In addition, he called for a review of the Hyde Amendment, which limits funding to those who promote abortion on US soil.

Critics have accused Biden of not just a left turn to please his new sensibilities party, but also of abuse of executive orders to avoid bipartisan confrontation with parliamentary forces. "We are in the midst of a pandemic and we want to ensure that all those who need it will have health coverage," the president said, and then dismissed the accusations saying "I'm not making new laws, I'm restoring what was before".