Introduction America faces a choice, keep the health care coverage it has, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or scrap it and come up with something better. While the ACA in its entirety leaves room for improvement could do better, much better. Currently the United States spends more on health care than any other country. According to a Huffington Post article (2013) the U.S. spends about 17.2 percent of their GDP on medical care. Health care per capita is approximately $8,608, second only to Switzerland, which spends $9,121. What does America have to show for all the money it is spending on health care? It wouldn’t be unreasonable to speculate that the U. S. would have the lowest infant mortality, the highest life expectancy, and the most efficient health care in the world. Unfortunately, however, that is not the case. The United States according to the same article, ranks 46th out of 48th in health care efficiency, Serbia and Brazil are the only two ranking lower. Infant mortality and life expectancy in the United States rank 167thand 44th out of 224 respectivelyaccording to the CIA World Factbook (2015). Additionally, approximately 15 percent of people in the U.S. are still uninsured. The return on investment in health care needs to have better results; a system that provides the highest quality care that leaves no one out. Major Challenges The three main challenges of providing true universal health care to all are access, cost, and quality. In the current
Furthermore, the United States spends nearly double the average $3,923 for the 15 countries ("Health Care Cost," 2011).” Accordingly the U.S. throws away more money than any other country on healthcare which consequently could jeopardize the medical attention that is being provided.
has the world’s most expensive healthcare system, yet one-sixth of Americans are uninsured. Approximately one-third (31%) of adults and a little more than one-half (54%) of children do not have a primary care doctor. Federal spending on healthcare in 2005 alone totaled $600 billion, a massive one-quarter of the federal budget. Someone files for bankruptcy every 30 seconds in the U.S of health concerns. And every 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure due to unaffordable medical costs. The U.S. spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health insurance system than Western European nations, who insure all citizens.“ www.realtruth.org/articles/090203-005-health.html. “In United States, the annual cost of health care per capita is $5,711. http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/#ixzz12f0I1lbk
Having access to quality healthcare is major part of one’s life however the cost of care has been on the rise over the past decades and continue to rise every day due to many situation such
Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) signed into law in March 2010, a few things have changed in the provision of physical therapy services, in specific productivity standards and reimbursement in outpatient physical therapy clinics. The Affordable Care Act has resulted in an increased demand for physical therapy services primarily due to the construction of the Health Insurance Marketplace. This created new health insurance options to help Americans acquire health insurance, who previously were not able to afford it. Although the ACA is a very extensive and complex piece of legislation, it has ultimately resulted in more individuals who are eligible for physical therapy services. This increased demand not only comes from the ACA but also from reimbursement cuts from insurance companies, subsequently causing physical therapists to overload their schedules as a means to offset these cuts. These demands are without factoring in the aging baby boomer population, which is expected to increased the physical therapist need by 30% from 2008 to 2018 (cite). Physical therapy is about providing the best patient care, however patient care is also a business and businesses are centered on revenue. Below are some of the current proposed solutions along with personal solutions and insight on the productivity issue.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a primary debate topic since it was enacted in 2010. The conservatives completely disagree with the Affordable Care Act and believe that “Democrats used it as an assertion of power than they used it to improve health care conditions” (“Republican Views on Health Care”, 2014). They believe that the act was a waste of taxpayer’s dollars and would inevitably ruin our health care system. In contrast, the liberals supported the ACA and “pride themselves on the fact that health care costs are growing at the slowest rate since 1960” (“Democratic View on Health Care”, 2014). The liberals believe that every American should have access to health care by making premiums affordable. However, in order to do so
The highest court in all of America is the Supreme Court. They decide and uphold
America spends 2.5 times more on healthcare than most developed countries yet still ranking 51st in life expectancy in the world (Baum, 2015). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented January 1, 2014 by President Obama to expand coverage to millions of individuals in need. It consists of two separate pieces of legislation: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services, 2016). Although the ACA will give health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans, hospitals are receiving less compensation because of the high demand of health care from over qualified recipients. Through the Children’s Health Insurance Program and also the Social Security Act, states are able to pilot a test approach that could extend coverage up to 200 percent of the poverty line (Sommers, Kenney, & Epstein, 2015). Such a large increase in the size of the population that is now eligible to apply for the ACA comes with a sizable amount of fiscal responsibility from the states and puts an immense strain on the amount of money guaranteed to pay for the services provided (Sonier et al., 2013). Given the lack of funding from the Medicaid program, absence of reimbursement strategies, and budget of healthcare in America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),
The Affordable Care Act is one of the new policy that provides Americans with better health security by putting in place comprehensive health insurance reforms. It allows people to have expand coverage. Now a child can stay under his parents insurance until age 26. The ACA holds insurance responsible by dropping health care while guarantees more choices and enhance the quality of care. The ACA facilitates long-term care services to help people whom such care need receive it and to find ways to help make such care available not only in organizations but also in the public. They try to eliminate non-discrimination language that will restrict health insurance companies from discriminating against any health care provider. The ACA includes policies
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded the choices for different populations, across the nation, to apply for health insurance. Under the ACA, it is a requirement that everyone have health insurance that meets the minimum requirements or they will be charged a fee. For unemployed individuals, often times the price of healthcare is concerning. Without an income people may struggle to come up with the necessary funds to pay for a healthcare plan for either themselves or their family. The ACA offers a healthcare marketplace that allows individuals to check their eligibility for affordable healthcare insurance, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
“We will be moving further away from humanity-based health care and more towards the patient as a commodity. This was not the way my father practiced—nor will I.” This quote, from a surgeon in Michigan, was only one of many quotes gathered by The Doctors Company, which is the largest insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability in the nation, when they asked over 5,100 doctors about their thoughts on different aspects of Health Care Reform. American health care reform is something that was nearly seventy-five years in the making; since Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. presidents have struggled to enact health care reform, and most failed (Health Affairs). In September of 2009, President Barrack Obama addressed Congress with his proposed solution, it was called The Affordable Care Act (ACA). In this Act, Obama attempted to address a need most every American desired: to keep health insurance companies accountable for their customers’ health by preventing the companies from dropping someone from their plan, or denying their policyholders health insurance coverage if they had a pre-existing medical condition. The ACA also implemented an individual mandate which required almost all U.S. citizens and legal residents of America to carry health insurance coverage, or they would be subject to a fine.
The U.S. is an industrialized nation that continues to be behind on providing health care coverage to all citizens. However, the German health care system came up with a plan that ensured all citizens are provided with some form of health care coverage; nevertheless, the U.S. continues to dispute health care reform and how to provide coverage to all citizens. “Health spending per capita in the United States is much higher than in other countries – at least $2,535 dollars, or 51%, higher than Norway, the next largest per capita spender. Furthermore, the United States spends nearly double the average $3,923 for the 15 countries ("Health Care Cost," 2011, table 1)”.
Pain is a condition that is determined and described by the person reporting it. There are several components to pain including the emotional, psychological, and physical aspects. Many health professionals struggle to understand this phenomenon and thereby insert their own perspectives into the pain assessment of patient reporting pain. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) (2010), also titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act H.R. 3590, was passed by Congress and signed into law on March 23, 2010 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), 2013). Hospital value based purchasing programs (VBP) were developed to align patient quality care and outcomes to the support initiatives from the ACA. A component of the VBP includes patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is a self-reported response to questionnaire administered by a third party. Many hospitals utilize Press Ganey to administer the survey for the inpatient and outpatient patients. One component the survey includes patient’s self-reporting how well their pain was managed during their hospitalization. This measure of satisfaction can have an adverse effect on patient outcomes and increase opioid use in this setting. Patient satisfaction and pain management are both subjective however pain management while within scope of healthcare professionals should not be included in the patient satisfaction survey.
Beginning in the year 2018, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will implement a nondeductible excise tax, namely the Cadillac Taxon, on all employers as well as health insurance issuers, and other entities administering health care plan coverage (Marathas, 2015). Under the new excise tax, an employer or health insurer offering a plan that costs more than $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family would meant that the firm would be required to pay a 40% excise tax on the amount that exceeds the threshold (Wojcik, 2013). Supporters of the tax argue that employers need an updated view on cost control, basically, meaning they believe that, currently, many employees abuse their benefits and that by forcing consumers into paying a share of this cost, that they will be less likely to overuse or abuse their health care (Marathas, 2015). Those opposing the tax believe that it dishonestly “hollows out” and “slashes” employee health benefits (MDeverywhere, 2015).
The United States tends to spend more money on healthcare than any other nation across the world. In America, nearly seven hundred thousand people file bankruptcy each year. Many people have to pick jobs according to the health benefits rather than if they actually like the job. Many people are forced to sacrifice their dreams just for insurance alone. One in four Americans will switch jobs within a span of three years for health benefits. Insurance doesn’t have to cover you. In fact, most insurance companies try not to deal with already or preexisting sick people. Twenty- thousand people die because of failing healthcare every year. Over forty- seven million Americans are not insured. The amount to do even the smallest tests or procedures
In the year 2012, expenditure on US health care amounted to 2.8 million trillion dollars, accounting for 17.2 percent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the US. The annual average cost of health care for the characteristic American family of 4 amounted to more than