~Obama Care: A Bad Deal for Young Adults~

In America, there are many ways for a person to protect their personal property.
The best way for a tenant to protect their personal property is to purchase renters
insurance, by law all drivers must purchase vehicle insurance to ensure financial
protection in case of a collision. Although both are types of insurance, a tenant has the
option to purchase insurance, but a driver by law does not. Well, what about health
insurance? Should it be an option? If the privilege of the option is taen away, how will
the health plans and premiums be determined? !bama "are ,better nown as #The
$atient $rotection and Affordability "are Act,% was put in place to increase the &uality
and affordability of health insurance, as well as to lower the uninsured population rates.
In The article #!bama "are' A (ad )eal for *oung Adults,% author Aaron *elowit+ uses a
misleading analogy stated by president (arac !bama, a comparison of ,individual
mandate, to a bad American e-perience, words that sympathi+ed young adults but
disdained older adults, graphs, charts, and statistics, and estimated health premiums
from e.ealthInsurance to argue that !bama "are will negatively affect young adults.
Aaron *elowit+ is an associate professor of economics at the /niversity of
0entucy and ad1unct scholar at the "ato Institute. .e believes that !bama "are opposes
its greatest burdens on young adults, which is ironic because he won with a larger share
of the young peoples2 votes than any presidential candidate has won in decades. .e
argues that since the legislation forces /S citi+ens to purchase health insurance 3nown
as a #individual mandate%4 and would impose price controls on health insurance 3nown
as #community ratings%4 it would limit the insurers ability to offer lower premiums to
low riss citi+ens. It will result in insurance premiums to lower or be divided in half for
55 year old but be increased or doubled for 65 year old 3subsidi+ing the elderly4. .e
considers !bama care to be a scheme to get the young to subsidi+e the elderly7 meaning
to financially support.
To begin, *elowit+ appeals to ethos by using a misleading analogy stated by
$resident (arac !bama. The analogy portrays the president to be manipulating and
since he created !bama "are, then the overhaul is portrayed to be manipulating as well.
.e argues that the analogy ,mandating health coverage is 1ust lie mandating car
insurance8, stated by $resident (arac !bama, is in fact a false statement because a
person has a decision to avoid the auto9insurance mandate by becoming non9driver and
if non9drivers of all ages were forced to buy insurance set at the e-act same premiums as
persons who drive, there would be a crises. (y focusing the arguments on government
control, he effectively paints the image of an angry society with no democracy.
To continue, *elowit+ appeals to pathos in a subtle way, for he referred to young
adults and the older adults using words that showed sympathy for young adults being,
but disdained older adults. .e refers to young adults as the young, young people, prime
adults, and our young rather than 1ust adults. In contrast, he refers to the older adults as
the elderly, old people, and old aged rather than referring to them as seniors. :ost older
people would read the article and while reading focuse on the presented facts more less
the terms used to describe the two parties, where as any younger person probably would
have felt some connection when noticing the word ,young adults, in the title. The
American culture seems to battle what is appropriate and what are effective terms when
selling ourselves to an audience. In this article, although he appropriately presents the
two parties, he effectively presents and defends young adults by showing more sympathy
when he addresses them, as where when addressing senior citi+ens he uses hostile terms.
This made his argument stronger because the readers feel sympathy for the young adults
and more importantly ,mae young adults feel sorry for themselves and open their eyes
to what being young means for them after !bama "are.
;e-t, Author *elowit+ appeales to logos most of all by researching estimated
health premiums from e.ealthInsurance to deliver the most accurate provisions. .e
discovers that those provisions, which included community rating, guaranteed issues,
and individual mandating, redistribute incomes from young to old. .e discovered for
any reason, if the young and old were re&uired to pay the same rates, the redistribution
would be the greatest. Therefore, to in&uire a ,&uote9on9&uote, balanced price control,
premiums were not one9to9one but either a <9to9= or a 59to9= ratio. (y containing a <9to9=
ratio, premiums for those aged => to 65 increases by <5? instead of a 5@? increase of a
=9to9= move. !n the other hand premiums for ages 55 to AB decrease by A@? in this <9to9
= ratio. .e reveals that premium increases would be even higher for young adults who
currently lac price control mandates. This price control scheme shifts the cost as an
illusion, for unless congress finances the overhaul, the mandate forces the young to
subside the old. *elowit+ effectively reveals this scheme through estimated provisions
from e.ealtIinsurance company rather than a statistic, which provides more accurate
research as well as a delivering a stronger, more reliable argument.
*elowit+ continues to appeal to logos by using graphs, charts, and statistics that
serves as evidence of his claim and creating another reliable argument. .e conducted a
chart that compared the individual health plan premiums and plan choices of the states
of "alifornia and ;ew *or to bac up his claim that congress will affect insurance
premiums of young adults in the individual health insurance maret by manipulating
community ratings, guaranteed issues, and individual mandates. In his "alifornia vs.
;ew *or study *elowit+ highlights the ey points' ;ew *or .as community rating and
guaranteed issues as opposed to "alifornia who has neither, the smoer as opposed to
the non9smoer, the age group 65 as opposed to 55, and female as opposed to males. (y
comparing the two parties, he effectively illustrates the effects of community rates and
guaranteed issues on the cost in the both states. This revealed that "alifornia which has
neither community nor guaranteed issues, offered far less e-pensive premiums and
various types of plans for the young adults 3age 654.
!bama "are was put into effect to increase the &uality and affordability of health
insurance in The /nited States. !ne of the most raised concerns by /.S citi+ens is how
the health care overhaul will affect young adults. Aaron *elowit+ answers this &uestion in
his article !bama "are' ,A (ad )eal for *oung Adults., *elowit+ argues that !bama "are
will negatively affect young adults the most, due' to individual mandate, community
ratings, and guaranteed issues. .e used a misleading analogy stated by $resident (arac
!bama, a comparison of ,individual mandate, to a bad American e-perience, words that
showed sympathy for young adults but disdained older adults, graphs, charts, and
statistics, and estimated health premiums from e.ealthInsurance to relay this message.
*elowit+2s argument was very effective as it presented reliable facts and statistics of the
effects of !bama "are on young adults, while building emotional connections with the
audience which was essential in eeping their attention and interest.