The New Health Care System

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or Affordable Care Act (ACA), is far–reaching enactment that will change how a large number of Americans access health care. The intent of the ACA was to increase the number of insured, increase quality of care and making it affordable for everyone by reducing the costs and expanding coverage. Under the act medical providers such as hospitals and primary care physicians will have to change their practice financially, clinically and technologically in order to have better outcomes, lower costs and have better methods of providing care. The ACA also includes provisions that require all Americas to secure medical coverage or pay fines and it requires insurance companies to accept all applicants.

With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in March 2010, health care reform has become the law. The legislation will extend health care coverage to more citizens, stabilize health insurance markets, enhance regulation and consumer protection, and improve the affordability and quality of health care in the United States. Changes in payment system of health care proposed by PPACA have led to the development of Accountable Care

Due to the growing numbers of uninsured people, growth in medical debt and growing profit in healthcare corporations etc.., the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was enacted in 2010 to reform the health care system. To increase quality and affordable health care for all Americans, Title I of the PPACA strives to reform the health care system by giving more Americans access to quality, affordable health insurance, and helps to curb the growth of healthcare spending in the United States (“Affordable Care”, n.d.).

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has made good and bad contribution to the American healthcare system. Further, the PPACA has also made some good contribution to American economic system. Just as it made good impression it also has some negative outcomes. The Healthcare reform was implement to ensure that every American was able to obtain healthcare coverage. This paper is going to explain the positive and negative contribution of PPACA it had on the American healthcare system.

“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also known as the Affordable Care Act or ACA is the landmark health reform legislation passed by the 111the Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010.” Within this reform there are pros and cons, which are instrumental for many Americans. Initially once PPACA developed there were many issues, but as it has been settle lings throughout recent year’s things happen to be confirming that this reform will face future issues. For this reason, as a future health care professional it is obvious that challenges will developed through this law, these challenges will need to be addressed accordingly and effectively. It is imperative to know and understand that this law is a major change in the American society, and with change there is resistance and acceptance, therefore, it is our job to work together to utilized it to the best of our ability. (Health Insurance Resources Center 2015)

This health care system cures all three of the major problems, prescriptions, Medicare, and uninsured citizens. Although 8,000 doctors recommend and support this, the American Medical Association (AMA) states that it does not solve any problems, just creates new ones (McCarthy 1). The AMA states, "A single-payer system would create a large bureaucracy that would interfere with decisions that should be made by doctors and patients, stifle technological innovation, and lead to long waits for health care services (McCarthy 1)." The one major problem with this is that the AMA is one of the few organizations along with HMOs, that would not benefit from this new national health care system.

The United States Health Care System has undergone some drastic changes over the past few years. It is almost unrecognizable when we try to compare and contrast the growth and evolution; with physicians with no formal standard requirements such as licensing or even training to now being one of the hardest programs to enter. From private house being used as hospital settings with no type of formal reimbursement or insurance; to having hospitals now so luxurious, that they can be mistaking as five star hotels. Where we where around the Great Depression and the outburst of growth in the industry change the mission of Health Care System from patient oriented to business or profit oriented. Throughout all these transformation, one thing remains unchanged; what one entity is truly in control of the Health Care System?

In 2010, U.S. president Barak Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) aimed at extending covering to as many as 33 million uninsured citizens (Liptak, 2012). The passage of the act represents the most significant change to the United States health care system in several decades. With the bill totaling over 2,000 pages in length, the scope of changes impact all aspects of health services in some way.

Has the introduction of the Affordable Care Act “Obama Care” made the Health Care System in the United States better or worse? Please provide evidence, statistics, information, argument to support your answer. In your answer, please address the following issues in the Health Care System of the United States:

The world as we know it has changed drastically in the past three decades, we are slowly but surely morphing into a worldwide community dependent upon computer technology. More specifically we rely on the Internet heavily for everything in our day to day lives. The benefits of expediency and the convenience afforded to those who utilize information systems their business dynamics is undeniable.

There are more than 43 million people right now in the U.S. that live below the poverty line (Poverty Talk, 2016). There are 43 million Americans who struggle to make ends meet, provide for their families, and receive adequate health care. Those under the poverty line have a difficult time maintaining specific needs; I am especially interested in the effect that socioeconomic status has on the health of an individual, particularly those in a lower socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status focuses on either an individual or a group within a hierarchical social structure; it focuses on a combination of variables including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence (Dictionary, 2005). The variables I will mainly be focusing on are income and wealth. While most working Americans have their healthcare paid for by employers, what about the 4.9% of unemployed Americans? The American health care system works on two different plans, Medicaid and Medicare, these plans were designed with the elderly, disabled, poor, and young in mind; I will be focusing specifically on factors of health for those with little to no income. Access to healthcare is another important factor that has a direct relationship to overall health of an individual. Research has shown that those with a lower socioeconomic status have a lower overall physical and mental health. The argument can be made that health is directly impacted by socioeconomic status with income being the biggest

“Today, many if not most obstetricians do not attend births: they perform fetal extractions through the vagina or through an abdominal cut.” Faith Gibson (p.37)

Out of the nineteen candidates running for president, Ben Carson, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump were chosen for the analysis of their plans for the United States health care system. The United States health care system has been in need of adjustment for years, with prices being paid over double per capita compared to other countries. While they have some similar views on current issues, there are drastic differences in the candidates’ ideas for change.

When you think of the American health care system, most people would like to think that it has evolved with the citizen’s best interest in mind. I realized maybe this was not the case after the story I heard from my sister. My sister has dealt with many health problems throughout her whole life from childhood leukemia to extensive back problems and most recently a serious heart condition. She was experiencing shortness of breath and was referred to a specialist to get further testing and imaging done to figure out what the problem was. Her insurance coverage was through the Affordable Care Act but it did not actually help her. Although she is covered, her deductible is through the roof at $12,000 a year. That was the best policy she and her husband could afford as they own their own company and some years barely scrape by. She was unable to get testing to find the problem because the test itself was $10,000 and would have been money out of their pocket which they could not afford. While we see many improvements in the healthcare field, this made it clear to me that it does not actually benefit everyone to the best of its ability. While as citizens we would like to think that the Affordable Care Act has benefited everyone and made health care better, there are still many issues that persist and changes that need to be made. The actual advantages of the system on paper sound great but in the long run, the functionality of the system doesn’t make sense and isn’t beneficial.

There are pros and cons to the ACA. For an example, the National Health expenditures suggested that the ACA will have an impact on new coverage, savings, and public programs; insurance exchanges and the public options; insurance exchanges and the public options; health system modernization, and its impact on the Medicare and the federal budget; premiums for private coverage; and, finally, savings for the entire system and improvement in every aspect for all Americans. That prediction looks appealing when you review the current situation of so many uninsured Americans that can’t afford insurance, or their job doesn’t provide health care. There will also be tax incentives to small businesses who provide insurance coverage for all their employees. Another important factor is that the ACA provides limits on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses that could be paid from insurance