Healthcare Policy - Assignment Example

The current legislation in the healthcare sector in the United States has affected the practice of healthcare practitioners. One of the most significant healthcare changes is the adoption and implementation of a national health insurance scheme in the United States. As a result, the United States government through its lawmakers passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) into law in 2010. This law was initiated to reduce the cost associated with healthcare and primary access to health services (Harris, 2011).

The effectiveness of the law has not been felt immediately since the law will be implemented in a piece-meal fashion. However, this law has been applauded for reducing the cost of healthcare as it is anticipated by research conducted by different scientists (Hertel, 2011). The implementation of the law will affect access to healthcare in the US since it will make healthcare accessible to many people who had no access before due to cost. However, the law will lead to the detriment to the quality of healthcare offered to Americans since little resources will cater to a huge number of patients (Hertel, 2011).

The increased number of patients seeking healthcare will lead to increased numbers of healthcare practitioners compromising nursing standards. This will create a problem for oversight bodies in maintaining quality healthcare practices (Gray, 2011). Every American has a right to access quality healthcare and this law gives an opportunity to all Americans to access quality healthcare. In my own opinion, I think there should be a law that looks into the welfare of mental patients and a law should be created to provide mandatory healthcare to these patients.

A policy should be implemented to create nursing standards and practices that cater to mental patients under a universal healthcare scheme.