Affordable Care Act Effect

Implementation of the ACA would require an extensive expansion of the Medicaid program to low income adults in each state.³ The Congressional Budget Office projects that a previously 30 million uninsured Americans, approximately 92% of the legal, non-elderly population, will have coverage by 2022.³ The federal government will pay for 100% of the costs of expanding Medicaid programs until 2016, and then gradually fade their contribution to 90% by 2020.³ Currently, expansion of the Medicaid program is voluntary and several states have stated that they intend to turn down their share of the billions of dollars that has been made available to each state solely for the expansion of this program.³ States deciding to not expand their Medicaid program will not only exclude many poor, vulnerable families from access to an important health care program, but will also exclude themselves from an economic stimulus for their state and thereby decrease the strength of their health care delivery systems by not allowing them to be more financially stable for the long

a. President Obama signed into law the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) on February 4, 2009. The new law is designed to provide coverage to large numbers of children that are currently uninsured and to improve their quality of care. Key to this legislation is that it reinforces the Children’s Health Insurance

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) was designed to make medical insurance coverage affordable for all American citizens. Provisions were established to make certain uninsured individuals and no or low-income households can qualify for Medicaid or coverage through one of the health insurance marketplace exchange. North Carolina is viewed as an example of the impact the ACA would have on the nation. North Carolina is one of the states that chose not to expand Medicaid (Holmes, 2013). In this paper, I will explain my analysis of the impact of the ACA on North Carolina’s adolescent and young adult, working, non-working, and childless adult population.

Holahan, J., Buettgens, M., Carroll, C., & Dorn, S. (2012). The cost and coverage implications of the ACA Medicaid expansion: National and state-by-state analysis (Publication # 8384). Retrieved from The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8384.pdf

It was interesting that nearly 49 % of all 2010 Medicaid enrolls were children. Also, the eligibility of the children in Medicaid and CHIP has expanded over time providing them with access

The potential opportunity for the state to opt into the Medicaid expansion is the fact that low-income citizens will be insured. The decision of the state to opt into the Medicaid expansion will also impact the state’s budget, and this is the main challenge (Frakt, 2013). The government will cover majority of all the cost even as Medicaid expansion provides coverage for the low-income uninsured citizens. Expansion of the Medicaid is also a broken system that has poor outcomes, not severe federal strings, high inflation and no incentive for the personal responsibility of the citizens who

Before the ACA was passed, all states decided to raise the eligibility for children under Medicaid and Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP). North Carolina raised the Medicaid FPL for families with children greater than 6 years old up to 216% (Milstead, 2013, p. 203). However, now that North Carolina has not chosen to expand the Medicaid program non-disabled adults are limited to 43% FPL and childless adults are ineligible (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). Those not eligible for Medicaid and CHIP that have incomes between 100% and 400% FPL may be entitled to tax credits if they purchase insurance in the marketplace (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). This raises another problem in North Carolina’s uninsured population. The ACA is written by the principal of low income people receiving coverage through the Medicaid expansion, therefore people below FPL are not eligible for Marketplace subsidies (Healthcare, 2015). North Carolina’s uninsured adult population is around 319,000 which is 20% of the uninsured in the state (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014). This population qualified for the Medicaid expansion under the ACA and all fall below the FPL and now will remain uninsured.

Because of the low income from African American are uninsuranced it makes it possible for them to quality for the Medicaid expansion (Medicaid and Medicare 2015). There are a lot of black that are insured by Medicaid while there are some who are adults. The important of African American children having medical insurance such as Medicaid or CHIP. (Medicaid and Medicare 2015). Many children come from families who income is at or under the poverty level (Children n.d.). Due to the fact that these children comes from a family who income makes them eligible to receive Medicaid will make it hard for them to receive necessary services. Children who have Medicaid are entitle to certain medical services such as early,

Many people are seriously ill when they seek treatment because they lacked enough money in their insurance for treatment (Bush, 2015). Although people have reported general satisfaction with their health plans under PPACA, a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey has revealed that affordability is a concern for those who buy their own health insurance. 46% of those with both ACA-compliant and noncompliant plans reported it was “very” or “somewhat” difficult for them to afford their monthly health insurance premium (Medical Economics, 2015). Cost of care has been a longstanding barrier to care for minority groups. The survey did not find an improvement in Blacks and Asians skipping care due to cost concerns. (Pallarito, 2015).

Medicaid is a social health care program that covers nearly 60 million Americans, including children, pregnant women, seniors, parents and individuals suffering with disabilities. Medicaid is the biggest source of funding for health related services and medical needs for the people with low income in the United States. This program is funded jointly by the state and federal level governments, but it is the state’s responsibility to manage this program. The Medicaid program is not a required program that states have to use, but all 50 states have implemented this program. With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and its passing in 2010, the ACA unveiled its plans to expand Medicaid eligibility to nearly all low-income adults as an addition to the other groups that fall into the Medicaid eligibility. The Medicaid program had “many gaps in coverage for adults” because it was only restricted to the low income individuals and other people with needs in their own specific category. In the past, the majority of the states who had adults that did not have children dependent on those parents were not eligible for Medicaid. These low income adults without dependent children would be without medical insurance assistance before the ACA was introduced. Medicaid is now available to all Americans under the age of 65 whose family income is at or below the federal poverty guideline of “133 percent or $14,484 for an individual and $29,726 for a family of four in 2011” (NSCL).

1997 The Children 's Health Insurance Program (CHIP, formerly the State Children 's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)): was created by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, enacted Title XXI of the Social Security Act. It has allocated about $20 billion over 10 years to help states insure low-income children who are ineligible for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. A drop in uninsured was seen immediately.

Children in the United States are also suffering because of the lack of universal health care coverage. While there is coverage for children living at or below the poverty level, there is no coverage available for those children whose parents make too much money to qualify for the low-income programs and too little money to be able to afford health insurance. “These gaps in health insurance coverage may lead to delayed or unmet health care needs among children” (Kim & Viner-Brown, 2007). As a result, these children are less likely to be taken to the doctor for treatment of chronic illnesses like “asthma” or “recurrent ear infections” (Hoffman & Paradise, 2008). It boggles the mind to know that “uninsured newborns, even though they had more severe

Since the initiation of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Americans have been put back in charge of their individual health care. Under this new law, a health insurance marketplace provides a haven for individuals without insurance to gain coverage. Just this year, citizens found out early whether they qualified for Medicare or the CHIP formally known as the Children’s Health Insurance Program. So much is to be learned about the Affordable Care act and this paper provides the roles of the different governmental branches, along with other important factors associated with this law.

The Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was started in 1997 to provide health insurance for uninsured children in families with low incomes and above the cut-off for Medicaid eligibility. The law gave states the flexibility to design and build the criteria and the role of the enrollment to the CHIP program. The children’ s health insurance Program (CHIP) funded by states and the federal government. CHIP runs through a mechanism similar to Medicaid. States operate and pay for insurance for children in low-income families and the federal government pays the state for a percentage of the money that state spends. The Medicaid pays a low percentage of CHIP cost and the federal government pays the rest of that cost (Lewandowski, 2013).

Children make up an extensive part of the uninsured population. Low-income families have the opportunity to obtain coverage through government program while many may elect to take advantage of the chance to get coverage but there are some who will opt not to get health insurance for their children. According to Kenney, Haley, Anderson, & Lynch (2015), some families do not apply for government insurance is they are not aware of the programs or a child’s eligibility. They find the application processes complex; uncertainty of how to obtain information; perceptions of the programs, such as cost concerns; and, for a small fraction of families, they simply have no desire to partake in the