Coverage and Access, including Mental Health. Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, some may argue that access to quality health care and services are easier to obtain. The law mandates that all citizens of the United States as well as those individuals who are non-citizens, but are legal residents, acquire health insurance coverage. In order for there to be minimal barriers to accessibility of health coverage, an online health insurance marketplace provides individuals with the option to shop for health insurance plans. The plans are categorized by the state in which the individual resides. The exchange allows individuals to review plan specifications. Additionally, the exchange provides coverage options through participating insurers through a tier system. The consumer is able to make a comparison of services covered in each tier, prescription costs, as well as premium costs associated with each health plan. From that, consumers have information about an array of detailed plan options and covered services in which to make an informed decision and purchase coverage that best suits their individual needs as well as the needs of their family.
Accessing health insurance coverage is not exclusively limited to the exchange. Employers who have a large staff are required to provide access to health insurance as part of their employees. There are approximately 80percent of Americans who derive health insurance coverage from their employers (“Obamacare
Anderson, Amy. “The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on the Health Care Workforce.” The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2015. This paper is a through report on the impact of the ACA on the workers in healthcare, particularly on the ratio of worker to patients. It shows that the act will increase the physician shortage, particularly in already underserved areas and specialties. It will also greatly increase the stress on workers, due to the increase demand from each physician or nurse and the increased amount of regulatory paperwork required. Many healthcare providers are merging into larger business to cut costs; others are running cash-only or annual-fee models. The act attempts to transition to paying physicians for performance
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is a healthcare program created by president Obama’s administration. The goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make sure every United States citizen has health insurance. The Affordable Care Act provides “affordable” health insurance plans to citizens that do not have any and make about $15,000 a year. While the idea of providing health insurance to the millions of American’s that cannot afford it is great, everything comes at a cost. According to Emily Miller, Obamacare is causing people’s health insurance premiums to rise by around 1 to 9 percent (Miller 15-15). Not only are insurance premiums rising, but ever since the Supreme Court declared the Affordable Care Act constitutional approximately 20 tax hikes have been approved (Battersby). All the aforementioned reasons are helping pay for Obamacare. Although providing health insurance for people that cannot afford it is important, the Affordable Care Act should be revoked because it will hurt the economy.
of the patient with controlling the costs of care, the issue of the uninsured began to grow. The concept of some sort of governmentally funded universal health care for all began over a century ago, however, never successfully implemented. From a historical viewpoint, individuals obtained health insurance by purchasing their own policy, as a benefit of employment, or through governmentally funded programs that required certain eligibility criteria be met in order to be eligible. If a person did not qualify for one of these types of health insurance, they generally were left without health insurance coverage.
The Affordable Care Act was passed to provide American’s better access to health insurance coverage. In addition to better access the ACA improved health care quality and lowered health care cost. The ACA reformed health insurance by expanding coverage, holding insurance companies accountable, lowering health care costs, guaranteeing more choices, and enhancing the quality of care. Although some states have not implemented all the benefits of the ACA, most citizens do have access to health insurance. This paper will address some of the general highlights of the ACA, how it impacted healthcare and the nursing practice.
When president Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in March 2010, it came with a lot of new provisions that would vary when they would come into effect. The very first provision was the “Grandfather Clause” which allowed people to keep their insurance plan before the act went into effect. As long as the employer still offered that plan the employee could still maintain it because they were grandfathered into receiving that coverage. If someone bought an insurance plan after March 2010 they would not be considered under the Grandfather Clause. Thus, these individuals would be required to get a new plan by 2014 if their plan did not meet all the criteria, they would need to get a new plan that fills all the criteria. Another major provision of the Affordable Care Act is that patients have a guaranteed issue. This means that insurance companies are unable to deny anybody health insurance based on their health or prior health. This may create a problem because the risk pool of an insurance company may not have the best people. Eventually, this could lead to the majority of the risk pool for an insurance company to have people who are at a greater risk of needing health insurance. This will make the insurance company more vulnerable and the only way that they will be able to cover the losses is by raising the premiums on everyone even though there may be some individuals that are in perfect health. The next provision that was added under the Affordable Care Act is that the
Affordable care act is a law that was passed in March of 2010 to help decrease health care cost and make it more affordable for all Americans. The affordable care act is set to decrease the number of uninsured Americans, qualify more for Medicare and Medicaid, increase the quality of care, promote prevention, extending funding for the children, and help with funding in the communities. The goal for affordable care act is to have everyone insured, no matter what income class you are in. The affordable care act is there to insure everyone so that prevention will increase. It will increase by being able to get check ups and children being able to receive vaccination. If you are not able to qualify for Medicare or Medicaid there
In Title IX named, Revenue Provisions, will provide a middle-class tax cut to help those families and small business owners have more affordable insurance coverage ("Read the Law | HealthCare.gov", n.d).
Obamacare expands Medicaid and created a Health Insurance Marketplace, a universal way to sign up for subsidized health care plans. It makes it easier for low income families to receive benefits from Medicaid and other unsubsidized loans. Over half of uninsured Americans can get free or low cost health insurance, and some can get help on out-of-pocket costs using their state’s Health Insurance Marketplace. Through the Marketplace, though, you can only get certain plans from certain providers, as many of them are unwilling to provide subsidized loans. Protections from Obamacare also ensure that you can’t be dropped from … or denied coverage or treatment for
The Affordable Care Act was put in place by President Obama in 2010, providing Americans access to affordable health insurance. But South Carolina’s governor, the republican Nikki Haley is still rejecting the Medicaid expansion. My paper has detailed information on why Governor Haley and republicans made their decision to opt out of the expansion. Also, alternate approaches to expanding access to care and implementing or reconsidering the state’s decision of opting out of the expansion. Finally, recommendations to the state legislature to convey opting out of Medicaid expansion.
Just like anything else that is first implemented out to people, there are also flaws. Not everything that first rolls out to the public is perfect. However, although this new health care may have some flaws in the beginning, some may say that there are a little more just minute flaws. Some may express that the new Affordable Care Act may be a reform that will hurt us rather than help us. “If there is any area of social policy in which Americans are likely to be aware that their system has flaws, it is in health care.” As if America it is not already the country that has the most expensive health care system , “Americans pay an average annual cost of $8,174 per person for their health care, over twice as high as the average Western
During the botched 2010 roll out of the affordable care act, multiple veteran’s agencies marched on Washington with fears of how the Tax/Mandate would affect indigent veterans who could not afford the penalty and could not afford secondary insurance. In their hubris, these agents pushed an agenda that has greatly hurt the veteran population.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was put into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The focus of the Act is a health care law geared towards improving the health care system of the United States by broadening medical coverage to more Americans, as well as protecting the existing health insurance policy holders.
Since 1984, Medicare patients have been serviced under the prospective payment system of the Medicare program. Under this system, primary care providers are reimbursed for their services using a fixed payment for each patient that is determined by the patient’s diagnosis-related group at the time of the admission. Therefore, under the prospective payment system a hospital’s reimbursement is unaffected by the actual expenditures that are required to care for a patient.
Through the years people in the Unites States have struggle with issues dealing with having health coverage. In March 2014 Obama care also known as Affordable Care Act was sign into law making it possible for the lower and middle class to be able to afford health insurance. The affordable care act was in congress from 2009 to 2010.With the act been pass it made it easier for the people to qualify and get help and pay so little with no extra cost. Even thought the insurance is not free it is now affordable for people so now people have a wider range of coverage options. With the affordable care act been pass they are hoping with the affordable screening and preventive services they can be more proactive with people’s healthcare and delay
The Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), commonly called "Obamacare," is a federal statute that was signed into law in March of 2010 (PDF, n.d.; Van de Water, 2011). It basically requires the vast majority of people in the United States who do not have insurance coverage to acquire that coverage or face penalties. People who already have insurance through their employers or on their own will not be asked to change companies. Additionally, anyone who is on federally-funded insurance such as Medicaid or Medicare and still qualifies for those programs will not be removed from their insurance. They will still be covered and protected. In order to find out more about the Act and really understand its main points and principles, however, it is very important to be aware of how it became a law and any changes that have taken place to it from its inception all the way through where it is today. Only then can a person have a clear understanding of the Act and form an opinion as to the value it may (or may not) provide to the American public. There is still much speculation and a great deal of misunderstanding about the Act and what it involves.