Obamacare : Should You Get Proper Healthcare When You Need It?

This public health policy paper will discuss and outline the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as well as barriers and controversies surrounding the policy and its relevance in nursing profession. The ACA will eventually affect everyone. Statistics reflecting United States health outcomes have proven the need for the initiation of policy formation within the United States healthcare system. “In March 2010, President Obama signed into law a comprehensive health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).” (Estes, Chapman, Dodd, Hollister, Harrington, 2013, p. 144) The ACA promotes preventive care—including related services and family planning—that should result in improved health outcomes and

While the Obamacare act has both pros and cons, people are likely to support it or disagree to it on account of the perspective that they see things from. In spite of the fact that the act involves a series of benefits, it is difficult and almost impossible for one to ignore the fact that it is likely to cause a significant shortage of healthcare professionals and that it is also probable to cause an increase in drug prices.

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.

The Affordable Care Act reflected a shift from Treatment Model to Prevention Model, which requires well-educated nurses with more scientific understanding and skill in the process of care continuum – promotion and prevention to treatment. Since the medical field is undergoing a transformation, there is an increased need for highly qualified and competent nurses to provide safe and effective patient care in the new system. As the healthcare system has undergone dramatic changes over the last many years, nurses are now required to qualify well to provide more services than they did before. They also require to work as a team to provide optimum patient outcome. The Affordable Care Act also covers pre-existing conditions, which were once rejected by insurance providers. Such inclusion of the pre-existing conditions requires the nurses to increase their knowledge bases to cope

President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, into law on March 23rd 2010. Congress had tried for decades to pass health care reform, beginning with President Franklin Roosevelt. “Following President Obama’s inauguration, he used Democrat control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate to enact health care reform legislation, and granted the federal government control of over 16% of our nations economy” (Taylor 3). The law states that every American citizen is mandated to purchase health insurance. “If you choose not to obtain Health Insurance by January 2014, you will be penalized $95, or 1% of your income-whichever is greater” (Taylor 5). “The penalty rate for non-compliance will

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.

In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA gave many Americans the opportunity to have health care coverage that previously may have not been available to them. The reform is primarily aimed at decreasing the number of uninsured and underinsured Americans. The landscape of health care is changing and nursing is evolving alongside it. This health care overhaul gives nurses a vital role in leading the reform revolution. With more than three million strong, nursing is the biggest sector of the nation’s health care labor

If millions of Americans will now have easy access to healthcare, then the question I must ask is are there millions of nurses who will be joining the workforce? The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2017) published some data on their website that shows a likely major nursing shortage between 2009-2030, which is projected to be serious shortage in the South. As a future nurse practitioner, and one in the South, I feel like this shortage will only contribute to poor quality of care, nursing burn out, and poor patient outcomes. It is noteworthy that the potential student loan repayment options under the PPAC Act could generate an increase in our profession. Another con as I see it, is the increase in paperwork and quality reporting to fuel Medicare reimbursement. As a nurse manager, I know this con all too well. I spend countless hours on a computer generating reports, writing down statistics and inputting data for quality measures. Countless hours that are taken away from patient care.

In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, concerns have been raised regarding the Republicans’ desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act, informally referred to as Obamacare. The ACA was originally enacted into law in 2010 and has been annually provisioned to expand its ability to not only improve the nation’s access to health care, but also to reform the health care delivery system. Through the ACA, private and public insurance has become more available and affordable, new health care delivery models have improved quality of care, and several workforce policies have made primary care a more desirable profession for medical students.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) will have a great effect on nursing. According to this article nursing will have to change it role in the ACA and the three main categories that need to be changed and redeveloped is transforming practice, education and leadership.

Obamacare may be one of the most debatable topics at the moment ever since 2010. For those who are still confused on what Obamacare is and how it works is understandable and common amongst Americans. Obamacare is also known as the Affordable Care Act. It can be summed up as a law that ensures every American has access to health insurance that is affordable and within their budget. This is done by offering people discounts on government-sponsored health insurance plans, and by expanding the Medicaid assistance program so they include more people who can’t afford health care. In order for someone to qualify for Obamacare they must have an insurance plan that covers at least ten essential services that pertain

Healthcare reforms including Obama Care, formally named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act greatly impacts physicians and nursing shortages. There are several provisions which could direct impact physicians and nurses through incentives for potential recruitment, grants, training and retention. Through potential initiatives, the act may indirect effects that may question or present new reimbursement alternatives and models of health care delivery options. Healthcare reforms will allow millions of additional working as well as no working Americans to obtain healthcare coverage and this

It is likely that most people have heard about the nursing shortage for years now, and perhaps they believe it’s been fixed. However, the nursing profession is experiencing a reoccurring deficiency. According to Brian Hansen, (2002), there was a nation wide shortage in 2001 of 126,000 full-time registered nurses, but the shortage will surge to 808,000 by 2020 if something isn't done. This pattern is a persisting cycle of high vacancies followed by layoffs and a high over supply of registered nurses. Various factors contribute to the lack of nurses within the health care facilities, but today’s shortages are a little different. Many feel that this scarcity is severe and long-drawn-out. The four major issues contributing to

Healthcare Reform has been and still is a highly debated controversial political issue in this country. It has been a hot topic of past presidential campaigns, with many proposed solutions, none of which were enacted upon by Congress. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in 2010. This law or Obamacare, as it is commonly called, was designed to cover the 48 million Americans, including about 1 million in New Jersey who did not have health insurance. It is envisioned to provide seamless, affordable, quality care that is accessible to all. Great emphasis will be placed on transforming our current “sick care” hospital system into a community “health care” system of prevention and health promotion. This paper discusses the evolving and future roles of nurses under the new system. It also examines the proposals of a joint committee made up of members of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), as an initiative to help nurses in their new leadership roles to a healthier nation.

There are over three million nursing professional in United States and they make the largest segment of nation’s health care workforce. Nurses can play a vital role in helping to realize the objectives set forth in the 2010 affordable act, legislation that represents the broadest health care overhaul since the 1965 creation of Medicare and Medicaid program (IOM 2010). Due to the restricting barriers nurses were not able to respond effectively to the changing health care systems. In 2008, The