How Does the Volume of Newly Insured Americans due to the ACA Affect the Role of the Health Administrator?
Olivia Guiney
Regis College- Health Administration
It has been six years since the Affordable Care Act has been implemented into the United States healthcare system. As the pieces and provisions of this monumental federal statute become understood and executed, it is transforming the demand for care. Prior to the ACA, a significant number of Americans were marginalized and unable to obtain coverage. This system was faced increasing healthcare costs, placing greater financial strain to everyday Americans, businesses, and public health insurance systems. The ACA did not only help ensure health coverage for all (almost
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As a result of this added financial strain, states have had to either cut funding for other services like education, increase taxes, or heighten eligibility requirements for these publicly funded healthcare programs (Emanuel, 2014).
There are various good intentions of the ACA, including addressing access and expanding coverage, cost and quality indicators, public health matters, workforce issues, and speeding up access to new drugs (Emanuel, 2014). Specific provisions outlined in the ACA such as, states expanding Medicaid under the ACA to everyone who makes less than 138% of the federal poverty level now qualifies for Medicaid. The ACA allows young people to now stay on their parents health insurance plan until age 26. In addition the ACA mandates that pre-existing health concerns cannot exclude someone from being covered by insurance. The ACA also expanded Medicaid in many states, the operating margins among hospitals in Medicaid expansion states “increased from 2.1 percent in 2013 to 3.4 percent in 2014.” Operating margins also increased among hospitals in non-expansion states, however the relative increase was smaller compared to hospitals in expansion states. These ACA
In 2010, the United States created The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The objective was to share the responsibility of costs between the government, individuals, and employers to provide affordable access to quality health insurance. “However, health coverage remains fragmented, with numerous private and public sources, as well as wide gaps in insured rates across the U.S. population.” (“United States: International Health Care System Profiles,” n.d.). Each individual state within the US, generally has control over private insurance.
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.
At last, the law gave new alternatives and motivating forces to help states rebalance their Medicaid long haul mind programs for group based administrations and backings as opposed to institutional care. All in all, these arrangements have quickened Medicaid advancement effectively in progress in numerous states. Also improved with the ACA besides Medicaid, is Medicare. The Affordable Care Act incorporates a progression of Medicare changes that will create billions of dollars in reserve funds for Medicare and fortify the care Medicare recipients get. The new law secures ensured benefits for all Medicare recipients, and gives new advantages and administrations to seniors on Medicare that will help keep seniors solid. The law likewise incorporates arrangements that will enhance the nature of care, create and advance new models of care conveyance, suitably value administrations, modernize our wellbeing framework, and battle waste, extortion, and mishandle. A big topic that is affected from ACA is businesses. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- otherwise known as Obamacare -- is putting such a small dent in the profits of U.S. companies that many refer to its impact as 'not material' or 'not significant. Even after a provision went into effect this year requiring companies with 50 or more full-time workers to provide coverage, and after more workers are choosing to enroll in existing company coverage because of another requirement that all Americans get
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.
Understanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can be problematic, the goal of the ACA is to address the fact that millions of Americans do not have health insurance, yet they are contributors to the health care market, consuming health care services for which they do not pay. While this may seem to be a great idea, many Americans are not really sure how they are affected by this Health Care Reform. The goal is to make health insurance affordable, secure, and reliable for all. The ACA is a minimum coverage provision, individuals are given health insurance by amending the tax code. There is an individual mandate which stipulates all non-exempt individuals must maintain a minimum level of insurance or pay a tax penalty. ACA extends Medicaid, states have to accept or they will not receive Federal funding. The act also includes an employer mandate to obtain health coverage for employees. The Affordable Care Act has changed the way health care is provided and the way individuals will participate (The Affordable Care Act Cases. (n.d.). Retrieved September 3, 2015)
In 1965, as part of his Great Society Legislation, President Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. With these two programs he concluded two decades of congressional debate of the future of health care. In the forty years to follow, the United States of America and its health care industry experienced dramatic changes. Population increased by over one hundred million people (Census Bureau), advances in medical technology supported a growing elderly population, diets and lifestyle habits changed, and health care costs outpaced both per capita GDP and wages. By 2010, America was long overdue for health care reform. That year, President Obama passed the Affordable Care Act (also the ACA or Obamacare), an ambitious plan of over 400 provisions for one of the nation’s most complex and powerful industries—an industry upon which millions of lives depend. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 fails to fully address the fundamental problems with American health care system, but serves a necessary and promising starting point for such comprehensive reform.
A current important issue in healthcare is the addition of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This program is for families and individuals with limited resources and low income. This program ensures that individuals who fall under these categories are able to have medical and financial benefits (Martin, 2015). The Affordable Care Act is a program that has expanded the eligibility for more citizens to receive benefits under Medicaid. Citizens that fall under the poverty line now qualify for coverage in all states that have a Medicaid program. In the United States, Medicaid and ACA is the largest source of funding of medical services for people with low income (Martin, 2015). This act was predominately passed to help
The ACA was passed in 2010 with the intentions to lower uninsured rates and costs of care delivery in the U.S. (Healthcare.gov, n.d.). One of the ACA provisions included Medicaid expansion. Through this provision, those with modified adjusted gross incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level became eligible for Medicaid (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2012). Non-elderly, uninsured, childless adults who, prior to the legislation, were ineligible for Medicaid were the focus of this provision (KFF, 2012).
One major provision was children on parent’s policies were now allowed to stay on their parent’s policy until they were 26 years old! Even if they were not living with their parents or were not in school. The Affordable Care Act was not only targeted towards U.S citizens but also towards businesses. The Affordable Care Act aimed to help smaller businesses obtain health insurance for its employees (1 Nordqvist). This was very beneficial to employees of smaller businesses they now would receive health care. It wasn’t until 2014 when new benefits would arise one of these benefits was that companies could no longer decline health insurance policies or raise premiums for people with pre-existing conditions. (1, Nordqvist). All by 2014 states across the United States with Medicaid Plans had to include at least some type of health care like labor and newborn care or emergency visits. The Affordable Care Act provided coverage to many and to those who chose not to be covered would have to a pay a
Health care in the United States is driven by a patchwork of services and financing. Americans access health care services in a variety of ways — from private physicians’ offices, to public hospitals, to safety-net providers. This diverse network of health care providers is supported by an equally diverse set of funding streams. The United States spends almost twice as much on health care as any other country, topping $2 trillion each year. (WHO.INT 2000) However, even with overall spending amounting to more than $7,400 per person, millions of individuals cannot access the health care services they need.(Foundation 2009) So when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a the Affordable Care Act or ACA) was passed in the summer
It is one of the most regulated health care systems ever in the history of the United States. PPACA/ACA a.k.a Obamacare is also one of the hugely funded public policy, and one of the weirdest, unpopular and ineffective government mandated health care policy the world has every seen. Since passing into law in 2010, hospitals and doctors are devoting significant amount of time trying to detail this documentation. This takes away from potential time hospital and doctors can spend helping their patients. This new policy is seen as placing bureaucrats between doctors/physicians and their patients who grant regulators unprecedented control over individual medical decisions. On top of these regulations, what is even more frustrating is the manner in which this new policy levied unprecedented fines/fees/taxes on individuals and small businesses. The PPACA/ACA a.k.a Obamacare is stripping away patient’s autonomy and drowns doctors in bureaucracy, and drain job satisfaction. Many students considering a careering in medicine will pursue other opportunities. The supply of providers will dwindle as demand for services reaches an all-time high. Employers are already passing the cost over to patients through passing increased healthcare costs on to workers, raising co-payments, boosting the costs of dependent coverage, delaying hiring, and reducing work
President Obama, on March 23, 2010 signed The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The law was put into place as a comprehensive health insurance reform (Assistant, 2015). The ACA puts preventive care, which includes family planning and related care and renders it more accessible and affordable to countless Americans (Assistant,2015). Additionally, the ACA extends Medicaid to all States equally, it sustains Children Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), while simplifying enrollment for families and individuals (Assistant, 2015). In addition, the ACA boosts community-based care for American with disabilities, and gives States motivation to strategies on how to improve care and the coordination of services for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries (Assistant, 2015).
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 became law in 2010 and expected to bring healthcare to most Americans at an affordable rate. The law requires all citizens and legal residents to be covered by either public or private insurance. The availability of insurance reduces the price of care faced by the health service consumers; and it will be directly connected with an increase of the demand for health care and better health status (Hong,
Over 20 million Americans have benefited from the enrollment in health insurance plans in American under the ACA healthcare law (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014). The ACA healthcare law includes expansion of Medicaid eligibility, federal and state-run health insurance exchanges, as well as ensuring those who have a pre-existing illness get health insurance coverage (NewsRx, June 20, 2013). The healthcare laws have had a significant impact on Connecticut; it is estimated that over hundreds of thousands in the years 2013-2014 did not have health insurance coverage in the state of Connecticut; without the ACA healthcare law, many individuals would still be without health insurance coverage (Dorn, Buettgens & Wang, July 2017).