Healthcare Act : The Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Affordable Care Act and/or Obamacare) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23rd, 2010. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted to increase the affordability of health insurance by controlling the

In 2010 the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was signed into act to help reform healthcare in the United States. Before and after the act was effective, many people were concerned with how it would affect our country as a whole and on an individual basis. Many people say that the ACA is helping our country and others are not so sure. The goal of the act is to give millions of uninsured Americans access to quality health care and by also making it more affordable. Although there seems to be many positives from this act, not everyone agrees that it was the greatest idea to obtain optimal health status. As many people know, children are now allowed to stay on their parents insurance until they are twenty-six years old.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a health reform law that was signed by President Barrack Obama on March 23, 2010. The full name of the law is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). One week later the President also signed a law called the Health Care Education and Reconciliation Act (HCERA), which was a supplement that made several changes the PPACA. What the country currently refers to as the ACA or "Obamacare" is both of these laws combined. (McDonough, 2012)

Some states have accepted the terms of the program including all of its expansion on the health care system, but some have been reluctant to implement the program. One of those reluctant states has been Florida, which is apparent by multiple court cases that has come since its inception (1). With Florida’s House of Representative consisting of a majority of Republicans, the conservatives of the state have fought the incorporation of the bill (2). With legislative bodies in opposition of the terms of the Affordable Care Act, it begs to question how policy makers have approached the issue of healthcare. My research question was in what ways the Affordable Health Care Act has affected healthcare in Florida, and how effective has it been in

The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare was signed into law by President Obama in 2010. Obamacare expanded the requirements to be eligible for Medicaid. There are many other provisions of it, but its major provisions went into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. The Act extended insurance to more than 30 million uninsured people, primarily by expanding Medicaid and providing federal subsidies to help lower- and middle-income Americans buy private coverage. In June 2012, the Supreme Court upheld most of the provisions of the health care law. Although the Court did rule that the states could not be forced to cooperate with the Medicaid expansion (Affordable Care Act History).

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) legislated in 2010, has changed the United States health care industry. In addition to universal healthcare, one of the principles of the ACA is the ideal of accountable care. Specifically, adopting an Accountable Care organization (ACO) for Medicare beneficiaries under the fee for service program. An ACO seeks to hold providers and health organizations accountable for not only the quality of health care they provide to a population, but also keeping the cost of care down (1). This is accomplished by offering financial incentives to the healthcare providers that cooperate in, circumventing avoidable tests and procedures. The ACO model, seeks to remove present obstacles to refining the value of care, including a payment system that rewards the volume and intensity of provided services instead of quality and cost performance and commonly held assumptions that more medical care is equivalent to higher quality care (2) .A successful ACO model, will have developed quality clinical work and continual improvement while effectively managing costs, however this is contingent upon its ability to encourage hospitals, physicians, post-acute care facilities, and other providers involved to form connections that aid in coordination of care delivery throughout different settings and groups, and evaluate data on costs and outcomes(3). This establishes the ACO will need to have organizational aptitude to institute an administrative body to manage patient care,

In the U.S. “Decreasing the number of uninsured is the number one goal of the Affordable Care Act(ACA), which provides Medicaid coverage to many low-income individuals” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015, p.1). Despite the success of the ACA enrollment of millions of people with health insurance, the most at risk and pressing group of our population are our children. This is a group that needs our attention and their health should be the country’s number one priority. This is a vast difference from Canada, where every child has health care coverage for life because of its Universal Health Care. Bodenheimer and Grumbach (2013) noted that over the years, “reformers in the United States argued for the passage of a national health insurance program, government’s guarantee that every person is insured for basic health care”(p.187). But this effort was not only defeated time and time again, but it was constantly shoved under the rug. It was not until a great effort was pushed by President Obama that we started to see some changes in our health care system. Still a lot of work needs to be done, especially for our children. Stronger measures must be implemented to make sure that every child has an opportunity to live a long and healthy life. This is especially geared towards children living in rural areas, “where access to health care is especially low or non-existence” (Rosenblatt & Hart, 2000, p.1).

Abstract: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most comprehensive reform of the U.S. medical system since Medicare. President Obama’s signature legislation vividly changes the landscape of the group insurance market in the United States. The ACA, which was signed into law on March 23rd, 2010, carries mandates that require Americans to have health insurance (2014 in 214 words, 2013). The ACA increases entitlement insurance and subsidizes private insurance, but reduces reimbursements under Medicare. The ACA is set to raise taxes in various ways, but projecting the financial stability and the health of this fundamental reform has been very difficult to conclusively determine. Projections of the impact of this act was required as part of the legislative process, but the forecasts and projections that were first submitted to the Congressional Budget Office have been rescinded with a current statement from the CBO essentially saying that “the financial impact of the ACA cannot be ascertained” (Conover, 2013).

The affordable care act (ACA) was implemented in 2010, the idea behind the ACA was to help millions of Americans secure affordable health care insurance coverage and slow the rising cost of healthcare. Throughout its implementation the affordable care act has had several reform initiatives in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. This research paper will take a brief look at the affordable care act as well as an initiative for each of those years.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was signed into law in 2010. The goal of the ACA is to provide affordable health insurance coverage for all Americans. The ACA was also designed to protect Americans from insurance company schemes that may increase patient costs or restrict care. Millions of Americans have benefitted by receiving insurance coverage through the ACA, especially those who are unemployed or have low-income jobs. Some could not afford insurance because they could not work due to a disability or family obligations. Others could not get health insurance because of pre-existing medical conditions. “More than 45 million Americans are uninsured, and as a result, they experience increased morbidity and mortality”

America faces a choice, keep the health care coverage it has, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or scrap it and come up with something better. While the ACA in its entirety leaves room for improvement could do better, much better. Currently the United States spends more on health care than any other country. According to a Huffington Post article (2013) the U.S. spends about 17.2 percent of their GDP on medical care. Health care per capita is approximately $8,608, second only to Switzerland, which spends $9,121.

Like many, my previous opinion regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was primarily based on political and philosophical differences with the legislation and its supporters/opponents. While I continue to have an ideological difference to many of the principles in the ACA, I do now realize that this legislation does have some theoretical positive aspects regarding a shift towards more managed care and the increasing encouragement of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). This shift has the potential to be helpful in terms of cost controls as it makes a substantial shift towards outcomes and away from fee per service care. ACOs also have great potential for helping to reduce overall costs in high risk, high cost patients (Powers & Chaguturu, 2016). This can be extremely beneficial as this high cost group is only a small percentage of our population but makes up the majority of our healthcare spending. It appears that the legislation at a minimum also helped to increased public awareness that we have a cost and quality problem, and I believe this recognition is helpful long term. However, I am still under the belief that the content of the legislation was built primarily for the benefit of the powerful lobbyists throughout the healthcare industry (i.e. insurance companies, AMA, etc.) and very little was included that would encourage the type of long term changes in the way we view healthcare and personal responsibility to be truly effective.

In 2010, Obamacare was signed into law. Many Americans do not have health insurance. President Obama and Congress wanted to make sure that all Americans could get healthcare. This healthcare is intended for middle class low income families. Obamacare is a lower cost of health care. This was made to reduce the cost of Medicaid and Medicare. These insurances are a threat to the federal budget. Health care is the number one cause of bankruptcy. Most businesses will offer healthcare through the company, but there is people who don’t have this option. Some are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid which is covered by state and federal government and anyone over 65 receives Medicare. There are people who make too much money and they do not

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded the choices for different populations, across the nation, to apply for health insurance. Under the ACA, it is a requirement that everyone have health insurance that meets the minimum requirements or they will be charged a fee. For unemployed individuals, often times the price of healthcare is concerning. Without an income people may struggle to come up with the necessary funds to pay for a healthcare plan for either themselves or their family. The ACA offers a healthcare marketplace that allows individuals to check their eligibility for affordable healthcare insurance, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Like every law, the Affordable Care Act passed in March of 2010 has its positives and its negatives. While there are numerous benefits that will come to pass due to the act, there are also several factors preventing many states from fully enacting the new requirements of the law. In fact, many are fighting the new policy. For all of the arguments centering the new health care act, the benefits offered by the ACA far outweigh the negatives. The law looks to expand coverage and care, as well as reduce the overall costs of healthcare services and will benefit millions.