The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on North Carolina 's Uninsured Population
Introduction
Prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), North Carolina’s (NC) uninsured population in 2009 was estimated at 1.7 million people under the age of 65. This equates to 20.4% of the population (Milstead, 2013).
The purpose of this paper is to determine if the ACA changes implemented during the last five years is assisting the residents of NC to find and secure affordable health care insurance and subsequent access to care.
Impact on North Carolina’s Uninsured Population The largest change in health care insurance and delivery system for the United States was the realization of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The PPACA plan of execution included yearly mandates beginning in 2010. One of the largest of these phases happened in 2014 when the individual mandate occurred and every individual was required by law to have a health insurance (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015).
Prior to 2014, NC’s uninsured and uninsurable populations were staggeringly high. Medicaid and the NC Healthy Choice (NCHC) safety net programs are state-run plans with their own unique coverage laws. NCHC is not considered an entitlement program so children could be placed on a wait list until additional funds were found for this program. This left many children without healthcare coverage. In 2009, NC’s Medicaid and NCHC program laws made it impossible
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or, more commonly, Obamacare, is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law mandates United States citizens to obtain health insurance coverage and businesses of 50 or more full time employees) to provide health insurance to its’ employees. Should you not be covered, a penalty will be imposed.
rehend the PPACA, one must understand the history of the United States’ health care system. The most successful and known reform would be the passage of Medicare and Medicaid. President Johnson’s main objective with his program was to provide health insurance to those over 65 years old, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to receive coverage due to retirement or being financially unfit to purchase health insurance. It has since been expanded to cover those with disabilities, and lower income families (“Overview,” 2015). Brady (2015) examines President Clinton’s attempt to massively overhaul health care in the United States. His plan, the Health Security Act (HSA), required employers to offer health insurance to their employees, and mandated that every US citizen purchase health insurance. This plan would have most likely expand health insurance to many more Americans; however, many feared the large tax increases, restricted options for patients, and with the lack of general support for the bill, it failed in Congress and was never implemented (p. 628). President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform opened up the door to future reforms, and it even shared multiple similarities to the PPACA. Smith (2015) updates the history of the health care system in America stating that “In the mid-2000s, America’s uninsured population swelled to nearly 47 million, representing about 16 percent of the population” and how “16 million Americans […] were underinsured” (p. 2). People
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is considered to be one of the most radical health care moves in legislation after Medicare. The reason being that it will provide universal health coverage to everyone regardless of circumstance. An evaluation of ACA’s influence on health care will be evaluated in this paper.
Vulnerable populations is a term that creates an image of distinct and narrow-minded minority though the vulnerability of every individual to illness, disease, and injury has made health insurance necessary and probable for a huge portion of the American population. Vulnerable populations in the United States includes parents and children of immigrants, race/ethnic minorities, the disabled poor, the elderly, foster children, families ineligible for welfare, prison inmates and former offenders, children with special care needs, and residents of rural areas. However, the uninsured population has developed to become one of the vulnerable populations in the United States because of the risks and dangers associated with the lack of health insurance. As a result of the increased of the number of the uninsured, they have a huge financial impact on the vulnerable population.
The PPACA was enacted in 2010; however, the Act was not completely implemented right away. The health care reform has been dispersing provisions as the years progressed. Provisions such as simply investing in new resources to fight against
In 2009 there were 50.7 million people, 16.7% of the population, without health insurance. Americans all over the country are working and yet they still can’t afford to pay the high cost of health insurance for themselves and their families. Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which was signed by Obama on March 23, 2010, thirty two million Americans who were previously not eligible for Medicaid may now have the opportunity to be covered. If this act is passed in North Carolina then it will be expanded to cover nearly all of the 1.5 million North Carolinians who are without health insurance. If more Americans are covered under the Medicaid that they need then
The Affordable Care Act promotes Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion is needed in North Carolina to insure the disabled and those that live below the poverty level receive adequate healthcare coverage. The resistance of North Carolina legislature in the promotion of Medicaid reform has retarded Medicaid expansion to its uninsured residents. The cooperation of the North Carolina legislature and its support of the Affordable Care Act is necessary for successful Medicaid reform. This paper reviews the impact of the Affordable Care Act 's lack of implementation in North Carolina.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) which was passed by Congress was implemented to improve the quality of health care and reduce the cost of health insurance in the United State. America spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation in the world. In North Carolina, the governor signed a bill to block the state from extending the ACA which will allow Medicaid to cover group of individuals that are uninsured. North Carolina rank 33rd of the 50 states in population measures in 2012 and rank 38th in health outcome (Siberman, 2013). In 2010-2011 approximately 1.7 million people were uninsured and had barriers to access health care in North Carolina as
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in vigor since January 1, 2014, and hospitals and health care providers are not sure about how many people will knock at their door for health care. So far, according to Camp (2014) “More than two million people across the country have signed up for healthcare under the ACA and hospitals are bracing for a wave of newly insured patients”. How does that affect the uninsured people in North Carolina is an unanswered question. Seventeen percent of North Carolina’s residents are
The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on North Carolina’s Uninsured Population The Affordable Care Act (ACA) 2010 is one of the most radical healthcare moves in legislation of United States after Medicare and Medicaid. The main goals of ACA were to decrease the number of uninsured and provide cost-effective high-quality care to all in US. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, the potential plan of ACA was to expand coverage to 47 million nonelderly uninsured in the nation, which included 1.6 million uninsured North Carolinians (2014). The purpose of this paper is to review the effect of ACA on the North Carolina uninsured population, the influence of the economy of care provided care and the ethical implications.
In a recent Kaiser Health Tracking poll according to Silberman (2013), a majority of the people, which includes uninsured individuals, reported that they do not have enough information as to how the ACA will affect them and were also unaware that new health insurance marketplaces will make it easier to obtain coverage (p. 298). The Affordable Care Act presents the possibility to improve population health, health care access, and health care quality, while slowing down the rate of increase in costs in health care (Silberman et al., 2011). However, accomplishing this will not be an easy task, especially in the state of North Carolina.
North Carolina Institute of Medicine (NCIOM). Examining the Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in North Carolina, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.nciom.org
This article discusses the progress of the ACA as it enters its sixth year. Jost begins the article by first discussing the success of the act, which include a historical drop in the number uninsured, high levels of satisfaction and a slower growth in health care costs compared to previous years. The paper further discusses how the ACA will roll out in the 2016 year. Individuals and large companies will be taxed for failing to gain and provide access to adequate health insurance. One great idea that Jost poses to increase affordability and access of health care was to make the Marketplace more transparent so that individuals can have a better grasp of provider and drug coverage before they apply. Under the ACA there was also a great push to expand Medicare and Medicaid programs through increasing access and coverage. Although this part of the ACA seemed like a great idea as it provided coverage to more individuals, I wonder how this program and the ACA in general will pan out after the election. The ACA will likely see some changes in the near future. Republican proposals to replace the ACA, which I feel are scarce to being with, might remove the community rating, which will reduce the number of people insured, although ultimately leading to a decrease health care expenditure. On the other hand, Democrats will likely expand the ACA and may also offer additional funding for the program with additional
But unless the state reverses course and expands Medicaid coverage, South Carolina’s $1.1 billion share of the national program will be distributed to other states while its citizens get nothing in return. In other words, the state’s taxpayers will be on the hook for $1 billion, with the number of uninsured exceeding the combined populations of Greenville, Charleston and Columbia. (Populations of South Carolina Cities, 2010)
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) signed into law by president Obama on March 23, 2010 is arguably the most extensive reform of health care law ever to be enacted in the U.S. It will impact the way professionals practice health care, the way insurance companies handle health care as a product, and the way consumers purchase and use health care as a service. The Affordable Health Care Act is primarily aimed at reducing the number of uninsured Americans and reducing the overall costs of health care from an administrative and consumer standpoint. The PPACA requires insurance companies to cover all applicants and offer the same rates to all applicants of the same age