Lance Taylor -- SPEA-V160 – April 9, 2017
Title: Affordable Health Care for Everyone
Introduction:
Today’s current Health Care Policy under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has many issues that are imposing serious costs to American people. The U.S. life expectancy rate is much lower than it should be, when being compared to the rest of the world’s costs on health care and their life expectancy rates. Many problems have concurred with the quality being provided to patients under government programs, such as patients not receiving the full medical attention they need, solely because the physician has no reasonable incentive to provide excellent care to these low-paying patients. Although, it is not the patients’ fault for these quality
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Often, when an individual is buying their own plan, the premiums are very high and are not able to be met. Some of these people who cannot afford premiums on their own do not qualify for government funded programs either. Many of these people are left uninsured or under-insured. Health insurance programs have started to increase deductibles. Cost has become an increasing issue with the current ACA, as well as quality for these government funded program’s patients, caused by the physicians contracted to provide care to these individuals.
Policy Options: The PCA addresses the issues of cost by emphasizing the relationship between doctors and patients, without the government interaction. It allows patients to choose their doctor based on the physician’s prices and quality ratings. The PCA also focuses on prevention through public health. The current GDP for public health in the U.S. is 3%, meaning three cents from every dollar spent in the U.S. is going towards public health. If efforts became focused on preventing of those chronic diseases that take up roughly 75% of our healthcare spending, our spending on healthcare should decrease (Sultz, Harry and Young, 2013). As stated previously, the current ACA is focused on repair and recovery, rather than trying to prevent these chronic killers
“But insurers in many counties are offering such a dizzying array of health insurance plans with so many subtle differences that consumers have struggled to determine which plan is best for them” (Pear, 2015). One of the attractive features of affordable coverage is the low monthly premium. With these attractive numbers, some people might even choose to give up their employer coverage to save the extra money. Naturally, consumers would most likely be fond with the low premiums rather than the quality of the plan. However, low premium is only worth the price that is paid for. The high deductibles lie within these low cost plans could cost the patients a fortune when they receiving the care. As this happen, the Affordable Care Act is no longer serve its purpose in helping to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance as well as reducing the cost of healthcare. Instead, the Obama Care only succeeds in reducing uninsured rate of the population. The lack of understanding about the healthcare coverage could become financially burden to the consumers’ family if they choose to use the plan.
More than 45 million Americans are uninsured. Even those that do have health insurance often face financial and other barriers when getting healthcare. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) removes most of these financial barriers (Kocher, Emanuel, & DeParle, 2010). The ACA guarantees access to healthcare and creates new incentives to change clinical practice, but some might be surprised to learn that the financial price tag attached goes beyond healthcare costs and taxes which all Americans will pay for costs
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 there have been significant changes in the healthcare environment in the United States. The ACA has a goal of increasing access to health care services while also reducing costs. Today’s “triple aim” of healthcare includes improved population health, better patient satisfaction, and lower patient costs.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or Affordable Care Act (ACA), is far–reaching enactment that will change how a large number of Americans access health care. The intent of the ACA was to increase the number of insured, increase quality of care and making it affordable for everyone by reducing the costs and expanding coverage. Under the act medical providers such as hospitals and primary care physicians will have to change their practice financially, clinically and technologically in order to have better outcomes, lower costs and have better methods of providing care. The ACA also includes provisions that require all Americas to secure medical coverage or pay fines and it requires insurance companies to accept all applicants.
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) had put more open doors for Americans to live healthy and longer life. Be that as it may, few individuals are living without insurance due to monetary results. They put their life in the danger of human services administrations. They are having less medicinal services results, getting low quality of care than the general population who has insurance. The proportion of uninsured and insured individuals soar by 25% in 2000. Individuals messes with medical coverage exceptionally and disregarding it in few point in view of their financing issue and lack of education. As indicated by Institute of Medicine (IOM, 2002), 18,000 individuals kicked the bucket without getting a decent social insurance benefit since they were
Americans have been faced with a new health care reform act known as Affordable Care Act initiated in 2010. Why was it so important for this nation to reform is health care system? How are we sure the ACA is improving our system for the American people? For many years, the health care industry has left many Americans uninsured. With health care costs on the rise and very few able to afford costs, and the quality of care in underserved areas not what it should be has left this nation largely unhealthy. Several landmark reports, including the Center for Disease Control factsheets and the Healthy People 2020 have astounding statistics confirming these alarming rates and clearly identifying the need for reform. The Affordable Care Act is the starting foundation for Americans to start investing in their own promotion of wellness and disease prevention. By choosing healthier lifestyle changes, individuals can make a difference which in turn will improve our nation’s overall health for the better.
Questions are constantly circulating around the new Affordable Care Act. Many do not know what it does and the government is trying to make it out to be a big savior to the medical field for doctors and patients alike. The Affordable Care Act has also been given the name Obamacare because of its ties to the President. He believes that increasing the amount of people on insurances of any kind that meets his “standards” will help health care become more available and more profitable. Unfortunately, these claims are not true as Obamacare is clearly going to negatively impact health care in all aspects. The problems start for patients who get on government healthcare programs, such as Medicaid, with the fact that the treatment plans are extremely
The triad of cost, quality, and access has impacted the development of the Affordable Care Act on many levels. The Affordable Care Act aims to improve the quality of healthcare, while maintaining the cost of health care ("Quality of care," n.d.). Under the Affordable Care Act, there is more funding for each state to assist in treating people with chronic illness. The goal is for these patient populations to have high-quality services at an affordable cost (“Quality of care,” n.d.). To ensure that quality of care is provided, the Affordable Care Act requires quality measures to be met in order for organizations to receive reimbursement. Although the United States still needs improvement in providing high quality health care that is accessible
In 2010, following much controversy, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court and signed into law. (Aoughsten, Johnson, Kuruvilla, & Bionat, 2015). Though this law is still relatively new, the public is reeling for a report on its effects on healthcare so far. The ACA is projected to reduce the uninsured rate by approximately 26 million by the year 2017, but people hunger for the effects on costs, the quality of their care, and any implications on their current healthcare situation (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014). The ACA strives to improve the overall healthcare system and create a patient-centered structure (Yuh, Dall’Era, Penson, & Evans, 2015). These goals have shifted the idea of healthcare we have always had in the United States and allowed healthcare to be focused on the patient as a whole and not just the disease they have. The Affordable Care Act should be continued as the United States healthcare
In the current U.S. system the free market prevails and companies, in this case, major insurance providers “compete” for business. This competitive business approach should in theory drive costs down. For some reason, however, an argument can be made that it has produced the opposite result in profiteering. The nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealth, boasted over a 10 percent revenue increase in 2013 according to Forbes (2013). Health insurance affordability contributes to the disparity in access to health care, as evidenced by the fact that there are millions that are still uncovered. A greater majority of certain minorities lack both health insurance and the financial resource to seek out either health care or insurance. While insurance companies reap huge profits the percent of private sector companies offering health insurance has dropped to less than 50 percent (Kaiser, 2013). There is decidedly a lack of coordination of care for this at risk population as well, since treatment is rendered sporadically and with continuously changing providers. The last major challenge is that of improving the quality of health care. According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), an estimated 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stay and an additional 13.5 percent experienced a temporary
The Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23, 2010, consists of 10 titles which provide Americans with health benefits. Sometimes this is referred to as “Obamacare” or the Patient Protection Act. The basis of the ACA is to assure that Americans can afford quality health insurance, without discrimination, while making purchasing insurance competitive for buyers, while also eliminating the uninsured (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2015a). This allows the consumer to take control of their health care while making informed choices. By providing affordable health care, this will help reduce wasteful spending that does not improve the quality of health care, which could generate an annual savings of around $140 billion after a five-year period (Sahni, Chigurupati, Kocher, & Cutler, 2015). All American’s were required to be insured either by purchasing private insurance, by their employer, or
Health care in the United States is driven by a patchwork of services and financing. Americans access health care services in a variety of ways — from private physicians’ offices, to public hospitals, to safety-net providers. This diverse network of health care providers is supported by an equally diverse set of funding streams. The United States spends almost twice as much on health care as any other country, topping $2 trillion each year. (WHO.INT 2000) However, even with overall spending amounting to more than $7,400 per person, millions of individuals cannot access the health care services they need.(Foundation 2009) So when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a the Affordable Care Act or ACA) was passed in the summer
Research shows that “The United States is an anomaly among industrialized countries in terms of the high proportion of citizens without health insurance and the high expenses for health care” (Feldman et al., 2015). Americans amongst industrialized countries having issues with healthcare affordability last several years. “Finally, the election of President Barack Obama and control of both houses of Congress by the Democrats led to the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), often referred to as “Obamacare” was signed into law in March 2010 since then, the ACA, or Obamacare, has become a centerpiece of political campaigning. The Republicans now control the presidency and both houses of Congress and are attempting to repeal and replace the ACA. Moreover, the future of the healthcare reform is still uncertain especially due to Republican party and by President Donald Trump” (Manchikanti et al., 2017). ACA reform have given insurance coverage about 20 million people, reduced the cost of it, and improved quality of care to all patients. There are several laws of Obamacare that includes protection, rights and benefits. One of the best ACA benefits is coverage of pre-exiting health conditions
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the 2010 health reform act that could extend insurance coverage to as many as 32 million Americans, which also included policies that affect the quality of coverage insurers must offer (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). In addition to this, the ACA created a range of programs focused on furthering change in how medical care is organized and delivered, with a goal of reducing costs and improving quality and outcomes (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). However, these goals come at a cost. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact the ACA had on the population it affected in the United States as a nation, but specifically in the state of North Carolina; describe the impact of economics of providing care to patients from the organization’s point of view; examine how patients were affected by the ACA in terms of the cost, quality, and access to treatment; and explain the ethical implications of the ACA.
US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of