What Are the Most Important Elements of the Affordable Care Act in Relation to Community and Public Health? What Is the Role of the Nurse in Implementing This Law?

President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010. This law puts in place widespread health insurance reforms that expanded out over the last 4 years and continues to change the lives of many Americans today. Health care reform has been an extensively debated topic for multiple years, and the ACA is the first effective attempt at passing a law aiming to make health care not only affordable, but accessible for all individuals. The law impacts many Americans including, children, employers, government programs which includes federal and state, health plans and private insurers, health care coverage, health care cost, and the quality of care received. The main goal of the law is to expand health care coverage, broaden Medicaid eligibility, minimize and regulate health care cost, and improve the health care delivery system. In order to improve the health care delivery there have been new consumer protections established and an increase access to affordable care.

Although the ACA have made progress, many still question whether or not this new law is working. The law is too complicated for people to understanding their coverage. "The ACA is not perfect", "but at least" the U.S. has taken one step toward reducing the disparities between rich and poor and providing health coverage to everyone (Gruber, 2011). In this paper I will discuss the benefit of the ACA and the affect it will have on provider reimbursement.

While the Affordable Care Act was implemented in 2010, the most significant changes in the healthcare system began in 2013 with the expansion of Medicaid. According to the ACA’s official website, the law’s main goals are to create cost efficient health insurance and medical services, as well as expand Medicaid so that the stated programs will be available to more Americans. (“Affordable Care Act (ACA)”). To do so, the ACA imposed many requirements on both sides of the health care system. The ACA has expanded federal regulations on private insurance providers by requiring that these companies cannot deny coverage based on the health of the beneficiary. The ACA has also established a marketplace for health insurance to be purchased by small businesses and individuals. Finally, the most noteworthy reform is the requirement for all Americans to purchase minimum coverage, or pay a penalty. However, those who cannot afford coverage and have “an income below 138% of the Federal Poverty Level eligible for Medicaid” will be paid for by the government (“The Affordable Care Act in the US”).

The Affordable Care Act is a law that was enacted on the 23rd of March 2010. Regardless of the fact that it was put into place in 2010, there are still numerous aspects of the law being debated today. The law has several provisions that are expected to take effect between the year of 2010 and 2020 (Reid, 2012). Among the significant reforms in the law includes a clause prohibiting insurers from refusing people coverage due to some preexisting conditions. In addition, these companies should offer the same price for all clients who are in the same geographical location and are the same age. Another reform was that families that are in the poverty line should receive federal subsidies if they decide to buy insurance through an exchange. The government also created minimum standards for insurance policies. The government also established health insurance exchanges as platforms for comparison of different policies. The Affordable Care Act also has an individual mandate

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or ‘Obamacare’ in 2010 and its implementation in 2014,there has been a steady decline in the uninsured population of the United States of America. The number of Americans with health insurance, has reached a historic peak. According to recent data from the Census Bureau about health insurance coverage, the number of uninsured Americans fell from 33 million the year prior to ACA implementation to 29 million in 2014.The total uninsured rate dropped by more than 4 percent since the health care law took effect. The ACA has significantly reduced the number of Americans who were not able to acquire health insurance due to poverty, unemployment, or having a pre-existing condition.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) extended healthcare coverage to millions of formerly uninsured individuals by expanding eligibility of Medicaid and the formation of Health Insurance Marketplaces. The ACA also included reforms to assist individuals sustain coverage and have the availability of affordable and accessible private healthcare insurance. Analysis from 2014 and early 2015 and have shown significant increases in public and private healthcare insurance coverage and have attributed the remarkable decreases of the rates of uninsured individuals from marketplace.gov and health insurance exchanges from the first year the ACA had healthcare coverage available.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, is a healthcare reform law that focus on providing more Americans with access to affordable health insurance. “The ACA is expected to add 32 million people seeking primary and preventive service and treatment” (journalofnursingregulation.com). It was first enacted by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The act has offered a number of people with benefits, set up a place they can purchase health insurance, expanded the use of Medicaid and Medicare to the disabled and senior citizens. The Act has forced many employers to offer coverage to their employees. Despite all of the positive attributes this act has provided, there is a flip side to it. Americans are required to have health

The purpose of The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to increase access and make it more affordable for all Americans. Unfortunately, the US health care delivery system lacks the ability to plan, direct, and coordinate from a central agency making it difficult for citizens to obtain health coverage. For that reason, The Affordable Care Act in 2010 became the most extensive health care reform in US history with its main objective to reduce the number of uninsured. The ACA permitted some standards in the health care delivery system to achieve universal coverage. Some examples were authorizing health insurances to start covering children and young adults below the age of 26 under their parents’ health insurance plans also allowing the law to lower

The Affordable Care Act has already created much history within the five years since it was passed into law. On March 23, 2010 The Affordable Care Act was passed into law (Clemmitt, “Health-Care Reform”, 505-28). With it came many new laws and regulations regarding health insurance. The law says that United States Citizens must buy health insurance unless one is enrolled on Medicaid or Medicare. If they choose not to buy insurance, they will face a fine that is adjusted to your income (Clemmitt, “Health-Care Reform”, 505-28). The Democrats, who mostly support the law, argue that the law will insure 32 of the 45 million people in the United States who are uninsured by expanding medicaid, providing subsidies to lower and middle class families to make insurance more affordable, and regulating insurance markets where people without employer sponsored insurance can buy subsidized coverage (Clemmitt, “Health-Care Reform”, 505-28). The Republicans, who mostly oppose the law,

Affordable Care Act (ACA), arguably the most comprehensive health care reform of the American medical system in several years. The act alters the scope of the uninsured in the United States, requires that most, if not all, residents have health insurance, expands public insurance and subsidizes private insurance coverage, generates additional revenue from new taxes, and reorganizes spending under the nation’s largest health insurance plan, Medicare. The ACA seeks to establish a drastically different health care model for the United States in the years to come, if fully implemented.

The ACA provides various benefits to Medicaid enrollees by expanding coverage to include mental health, prescription drugs, family planning services, hospice care for children, tobacco cessation, preventive and obesity related services. The main provision of the act is to reduce cost while improve the quality of care and the way it is delivered. The law prohibits insurance companies from dropping coverage for any reason, provide insurance even if there is a pre-existing condition. Provide coverage for preventive services and immunizations. Dependant coverage is extended up to age 26. The law established a cap on insurance company’s spending on non-medical costs and administrative expenditures. Insurance companies cannot charge more money based on an individual’s health status, gender or salary. The ACA reforms Medicare by closing the coverage gap also known as the “donut hole” by continuing coverage for prescription drugs.

The Health Care Reform Act is also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law by President Barrack Obama on March 23, 2010, (Touhy & Jett, 2014, p. 111). Its goals are to expand coverage, control health care costs, and improve the health care delivery system. It focuses on health promotion and greater emphasis on preventive care. The new legislation allows people and small businesses to purchase health insurance coverage through the health insurance market places—a virtual insurance mega mall where private insurers compete for business. The market exchange ensures that insures follow strict guidelines and compete fairly allowing people the opportunity to compare plans that best suits their needs.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA of 2010) was the first time the U.S. government had addressed the issue of providing insurance to all Americans in a significant way (Shi & Singh, 2013). President Barack Obama signed the ACA of 2010 into law on March 23, 2010. Since then the comprehensive reforms that the law provides, has been rolled out in stages throughout the years following. Some of these changes included, in 2010 a new Patient’s Bill of Rights went into effect, 2011 brought free preventative care services, 2012 introduced a Value-Based Purchasing program to hospitals, in 2013 open enrollment began for the health insurance market place, and 2014 will be the first tax year that individual that choose not to get health insurance will pay tax penalties for doing so. These changes and the many others detailed in the ACA of 2010 aim to provide more access to health care, bring new consumer protections, improve quality and lower health care costs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as “Obamacare”, has drastically altered healthcare in America. The goal of this act was to give Americans access to affordable, high quality insurance while simultaneously decreasing overall healthcare spending. The ACA had intended to maximize health care coverage throughout the United States, but this lofty ambition resulted in staggeringly huge financial and human costs.

The Affordable Care Act, implemented in March 2010 in order to refurbish the American health care system and expand health insurance coverage to young adults, has introduced many changes within the health care system but still faces some of its own challenges. By 2011, 3 million young adults gained coverage by the law, which allowed coverage as a dependent status until the age of 26-years-old (Lau, Adams, Park, Boscardin, & Irwin, 2014). The number of uninsured Americans is also at an all-time low, health care access is improving, cost inflations are low, and the amount of uncompensated