Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Behavioral Health in the United States

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.

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).

Large populations of Americans are uninsured mainly because of the high cost of insurance. Majority of the uninsured are the low-income working families’. The adults represent a higher percentage of the uninsured than children. Before the law, you could be denied coverage or treatment because you had been sick in the past, be dropped mid-treatment for making a simple mistake on your application, hence, the Affordable Care Act was implemented into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barrack Obama to make sure that every American irrespective of their status will be insured and have full access to proper health care benefits, rights and protection(1). To understand the

Mental Health coverage prior to the Affordable Care Act was far to none. With about nearly one-third of currently covered individuals having no coverage for substance abuse disorder services and approximately 20% having no coverage for mental health services. Services such as outpatient therapy visits, impatient crisis intervention and stabilization were among many that were not offered. Since the Affordable Health Care Act has been passed more individuals are able to afford health insurance that were once uninsured. It has helped many individuals in being able to obtain medical services that were once inaccessible.

The Affordable Care Act has made many positive changes for uninsured and underinsured citizens. With the addition of a program called Health Insurance Marketplace, it is now possible for uninsured people in every state to purchase private insurance plans, those making under 400% or less of the Federal Poverty Level will be able to have tax credits making insurance more affordable (Lathrop & Hodnicki, 2014). Insurance companies are no longer allowed to cancel a policy or raise rates when a client gets sick. Insurance companies cannot refuse coverage to individuals with preexisting conditions such as cancer (“Quality Improvement,” 2015). Insurance companies now must cover preventive care and screenings allowing diseases like cancer to be caught early (“Quality Improvement,” 2015). Research has shown that through health screenings

What is the Affordable Care Act and is it going to succeed or fail? The affordable care act is a law passed by the Obama Administration in 2010. This piece of legislation was passed to make health insurance affordable and accessible for all Americans. A lot of people refer to the affordable care act as Obamacare due to the fact that it was passed when President Obama was in office. The affordable care act was a major milestone for the United States in health care reform. It was the first time the United States passed a law that created a form of universal healthcare.

Health care spending grew 3.7 percent in 2012 and the traditional way medicine was practiced had to change (Edlin, Goldman & Leive, 2014). The Affordable Care Act and Population Health was designed based on the concept of “The Triple Aim” to foster change in patient care by providing better care for individuals, better health for populations and decrease the cost of health through improved care (Perez, 2014). As a result, population management has moved to the front by linking services, reducing hospital admission, risk stratification, pursing preventive medicine, ensuring medication review and lowering health care cost. Several organizations have follow in the pursuit of population management by forming Accountable Care Organizations

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.

The Affordable Care Act enabled more people to obtain health insurance, thus receiving healthcare. This offers a larger variety of people to obtain healthcare, in particular, those who cannot afford it. However, this also increased the stress on a fragile healthcare system with limited professionals and has arguably made a push for a refined method of how to provide and extend care to millions of Americans. The access to healthcare and requirements to have health insurance from 2010 to 2014 have grossly changed. In 2010, if someone did not want healthcare, they did not have to get it, but in 2014, there was a fine established if one refused to buy health insurance. At that point, the fines would cost one more annually than actually buying

Through the ACA, The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act was formed to assist individuals get through specific barriers that are up within the health care of behavioral health (Huang, Fong, Duong, & Quach, 2015). Other than that, the Affordable Care Act has started to provide expansions of coverage through systems such as specific insurance and Medicaid to the services of mental health and substance abuse (Beronio, Po, Skopec, & Glied, 2013).

The issue regarding the lack of healthcare in America is prominent but is a more significant issue than what is commonly known. For instance, it is not publicly recognized that those who are mentally ill are covered by the same healthcare as those with conventional ailments. Because of this, money becomes an issue; health insurers cannot cover every case, or cannot fully cover any case. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Patient Protection Act, both part of “Obamacare,” were passed in order to fix this very issue; these acts are ultimately attempts to reach parity. However, the chance to have healthcare that fulfills parity, equality of coverage, has passed, the ACA is too late and it is time to come up with new solutions. To settle for

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

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act invoked a $75 millon dollar demonstration project known as the Medicad Emergency Psychiatric Demonstration that was amended in section 2707 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The change seemed to be just what the nation needed, however, there was fine print added to the amendment that changed the interpretation. The fine print stated, patients who are on Medicaid from the ages of 21-65 seeking inpatient mental health care can receive treatment under the law. However, the inpatient facility will receive no

Preceding the enactment of the Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, approximately forty-nine million individuals in the United States were uninsured. The Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act (MHPAEA) does not command or require coverage for mental

Research conducted indicates that this method of fund raising will increase the state resources by approximately 11% and as a result more low income individuals and families will have access to appropriate health services to manage their conditions (CPBB, 2015). It is proposed that the federal and state government allocate the funds obtained towards the Medicare and Medicaid programs. This will expand the services offered by these programs and with additional funds; they can provide individuals with access to specialized care and services needed to manage their condition. However, it is imperative that the federally established poverty guideline be periodically re-evaluated, to increase the percentage of individuals that are eligible for subsidized health care. The idea is to have individuals with chronic illness sign up for the packages that offer the services and care needed. With the aforementioned, proposal for increasing both the federal and states health care budget, the goal of providing all Americans with access to health care, will become realistic. The goal of the ACA is to ensure that everyone has access to healthcare, so by providing government assistance to individuals in need to manager their illness will ultimately reduce the long term health care cost. Chronically