The most striking aspect of the financial overview of medicine was the limitations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Even before the lecture, it was clear to me that from the inception of the law that care accessibility would be prioritized over cost and quality. However, the lecture helped me realize how myopic my understanding of the consequences were for patients. To elaborate, let’s take for example the antipsychotic drug, Haloperidol. Haloperidol is a 1st generation typical butryophenone, which is often used in the treatment of schizophrenia. It is a commonly used drug, but it also been noted to have the worst side effects in its drug class. This is remarkable, and makes one question why physicians, who are well-aware of these consequences, continue to prescribe the drug. The answer in part, …show more content…
Simply back to where we started prior to the ACA. The best treatments are still only available to the top earners in the population, while the rest will have to make do. Unfortunately, those who need care are often the ones with the least access. We touched on antipsychotics, but a brief look at the Walmart prescription program indicates medications for hypertension, obesity, depression, and other common conditions. These are conditions that have been associated with low socioeconomic status, due to its connection to poorer diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits. Poorer health, in turn, limits an individual’s ability to work at jobs that enable better care access. As such, a subset of our patient population has no other option than to use medication that is less than ideal, leading to worse outcomes. To shift the balance in our healthcare ecosystem, cost must be incurred at some level. In financial terms, this is an investment period in which our system can refocus the business model to address care deficits in patient sub-populations. In humane terms, it simply means that we are going to better provide care to the people who most need
The Affordable Care Act, or, “Obamacare” as it has been dubbed by the media and general public was approved on June 8, 2012 when the “The Supreme Court of the United States upheld most provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by a 5-4 vote” (James, "Affordable Care Act and Pharmacy: Big Changes Ahead?"). This vote and approval has completely reshaped the landscape of the healthcare field, not only from a provider’s aspect, but from a consumer’s aspect as well. The need for healthcare reform was made apparent due to the growing
It has been six years since the Affordable Care Act has been implemented into the United States healthcare system. As the pieces and provisions of this monumental federal statute become understood and executed, it is transforming the demand for care. Prior to the ACA, a significant number of Americans were marginalized and unable to obtain coverage. This system was faced increasing healthcare costs, placing greater financial strain to everyday Americans, businesses, and public health insurance systems. The ACA did not only help ensure health coverage for all (almost
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
While there has been large media coverage about the insurance impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there has been a smaller amount discussed of the law’s changes to provider reimbursement policy, reforms to the delivery system, and investments in programs to improve the quality of care and constrain long-run growth in health care costs. And yet, the elements included in the ACA directed at cost and quality is possible to affect the practice of care for nearly every provider across the country. Although cost containment policies and initiatives are largely applied through federal health programs which including Medicare and Medicaid; cost containment in these programs has important cost-saving spillover effects to private health care markets through changes in health care practices and pricing across sectors of care.
While, as previously stated, the Affordable Healthcare Act is expected to increase medical coverage to include an additional 30 million people, it has become clear that just because the coverage was expanded does not mean an expansion of actual care. With the enactment of the ACA, congress unleashed what can be called a “tsunami” of newly insured patients, flooding a delivery system that was already stressed and barely hanging on. The
On March 23rd of 2010 one of the most highly controversial bills in American history, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), better known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed into law. The Affordable Care Act attempts to reform the healthcare system by providing more Americans with affordable quality health insurance while curbing the growth in healthcare spending in the U.S. The reforms include rights and protections, taxes, tax breaks, rules for insurance companies, education, funding, spending, and the creation of committees to promote prevention, payment reforms, and more. Four years since being passed has the Affordable Care Act begun to make healthcare more affordable to Americans? When it comes to the affordability of health care In the United States, health care has always been a private for-profit industry. The main purpose of the ACA is to make insurance more affordable and expand coverage to uninsured Americans by enacting a number of provisions. This research paper will explore some of these provisions, document their details and decide whether are not they are truly helping make health care more affordable.
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
On March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or “Obamacare” was signed and put into effect (DiMichele, 2017). From then to now, many people in the United States are split from fully agreeing to completely against this certain reform. Throughout different types of research and speaking to an interviewee, I have found multiple reasons that the ACA is good and why it can be bad (or Pros and Cons). One important pro that I found was that with Obamacare, anyone can have the choice of their own Physician or place of care for their needs, then just being able to get care from an Emergency Room (ASPA, 2015). This lets the patient have more freedom to make their own decisions based on their own healthcare and what they
In the 21st century, medicine has become very dependent on technology (Kumar, 2011). With that being said technology is one of the most costly concepts in the health care system today. While you need the best technology to provide the best quality of care, unfortunately, this drives up the cost. The cost associated with health care is a major factor in the number of Americans without coverage (Popescu, 2015). The passing the ACA into law was intended to drive down these health care costs.
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
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as “Obamacare”, has drastically altered healthcare in America. The goal of this act was to give Americans access to affordable, high quality insurance while simultaneously decreasing overall healthcare spending. The ACA had intended to maximize health care coverage throughout the United States, but this lofty ambition resulted in staggeringly huge financial and human costs.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a topic of dispute since its introduction and continues to be discussed by politicians in the U.S. and throughout the world even after its passage. The Act has many opponents and is the cause of much controversy nationwide, primarily because it introduces higher healthcare costs for the richest citizens. Nevertheless, the ACA is an important stage in the American healthcare development process as it not only allows more people to receive healthcare services, but will also reduce the deficit. However, not everyone agrees. The policy is controversial in terms of cost vs. benefits, but the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs.
The healthcare system plays a key role in the economic stability of our country, as every year trillions are spent in attempt to combat disease and health issues that plaque humanity. As it makes up a significant amount of the expenditures in the economy, so the costs associated with health care of those in pain from illness and injury, including lost productivity, increased need of assistance in living and also the cost of death in some cases, is important to the economic stability and over all standard of living in our country. The key to economic prosperity is balancing the need for care with the costs of illness to keep as many people healthy and well without breaking the bank of collective society. The costs of healthcare have been increasingly problematic in recent years with so many issues surrounding the current system. With the “total health care spending in the United States expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970, meaning that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021” (Aetna). With this in mind it is apparent that as we look at the trillion-dollar industry of the medical community it seems that it needs to be a major focus of our nation as a whole and with the many issues come many creative solutions. First let us analyze the reasons behind the current cost and the major problems facing this industry and than discus what
Balancing the budget in government, while attempting to keep costs down by way of the healthcare delivery system makes for shrewd business practices. I will also examine the burden of health care costs on the government and businesses, also at what extent will Americans be able to afford needed care. Today, we are consistently bombarded with the angst to repeal and replace Obamacare the cost for certain diseases still rank high due to the therapeutic dosage of medication that helps to maintain life. Being efficient in the delivery of health care can wound up being costly if people with pre-existing conditions will not be entitled to health insurance without paying too much money. This project will describe trends in the
The face of medicine is changing. We see new advancement in medicine and technologies on the horizon every day. Congress and the President have actively been discussing health care coverage for all Americans. The way we practice medicine today is far different from that of even 20 years ago. The delivery of medicine has in the past evolved along a fee-for-service model. Today there is a significant change from fee-for-service to payment based on quality received. This has been dubbed value-based purchasing. As this new remodel emerges finances will no longer be dominated by a system of volumes and productivity but will change to a system of preventative medicine and payment for quality of care. Those practices and providers who are leading