preview

The Impact Of The Affordable Care Act Of 2010

Decent Essays
Open Document
Health Care Reform

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 expanded access to health insurance in the United States to millions of uninsured individuals. Early findings indicate that there have been significant reductions in the rate of uninsured among the poor and working age adults. Consequently, the number of adults who did not get needed health care because of cost declined as well as the number of adults who reported problems paying their medical bills. Hpwever, despite the many advances the Affordable Care Act provided towards health care reform, there are still flaws to the system.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), expands the access to health insurance coverage primarily for those who fall through the cracks of the private and public…show more content…
These declines are most likely due to the increased number of Americans with health insurance. Fewer Americans reported financial difficulties due to medical expenses in 2014. The number of adults who said they had problems paying their medical bills in the past 12 months or were paying off medical debit declined from 75 million people in 2012 to 64 million in 2014 (Collins et al., 2015).
Despite the improvements made toward health reform, there are still problems that need to be address. There are still cost related access problems among insured adults, particularly among people with lower incomes. According to the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey of 2014, 33 percent of adults who had been insured all year with incomes under 200 percent of poverty and 25 percent with incomes above that level said they did not get needed care because of costs in the past 12 months (Collins et al., 2015). The high deductibles and cost sharing in both employer and individually purchased private plans lead many adults to delay or avoid needed care (Collins et al., 2015). Also there is still a large share of adults who were insured all year but still struggle to pay their medical bills. People with lower incomes reported these problems at the highest rates. One third (34%) of adults with incomes under 200 percent of poverty who were insured all year
Get Access
Related
Get Access