The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Essay Example

8 April The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Introduction The patient protection and affordable care act is a policy that addresses the American health issues. It was established in 2010 during the first reign of President Barrack Obama. It is generally referred to as Obamacare because it was enacted by the Obama administration. The policy was introduced to bring reformation in the American health sector. It was also meant to ensure equal access to quality and affordable healthcare services. During its inception, the policy was projected to cover at least 94 percent of America. The United States Healthcare System Murdock reports decades of consistent rise of the Hispanic population in the United States of America (2). This consequently saw them emerging as the biggest minority group in America. The high population resulted in increased demand for basic resources especially medical services. It is also reported that the Hispanic people were subjected to poor living standards and low paying jobs. Furthermore, they were not considered for insurance cover and job allowances. This was due to cultural, socio-economic, educational and racial factors thereby resulting in unequal distribution of resources. Hence, many minority families and children, majority being Hispanic were sidelined from the health care insurance (Murdock 4). Murdock further asserts that over the years, many political leaders tried to improve the American health policy (4). Their efforts involved addressing the health needs of children, women together with disabled people. This led to health services being set up to increase the chances for medical coverage to the minority families. However, these efforts did not fully yield fruits because of insufficient funding. Current reports reveal that more Hispanic children are still uninsured with many others being underinsured. They are therefore disadvantaged due to inadequate access to health services. Because of the worrying trend, the patient protection and affordable care bill of 2010 was signed. The objective of the policy was to correct the ailing American healthcare system that existed at the time. It was also meant to highlight solutions to the problems faced by the Hispanic children lacking healthcare insurance. They had been subjected to poor health services and discrimination by the medical practitioners hence had low living standards. The policy was therefore to expand entitlement to medical cover for the lower and middle class people. It was a requirement in the policy that people would have insurance cover by 2014. The insurance companies were to provide people with cover without any pre-existing conditions. Through the policy, minority families would be able to exploit the available medical services (Murdock 2). Components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The bill had nine components which included affordable and improved quality healthcare with equal access to medical benefits by all. It also contained public programs to expand entitlement to medical services. This was to improve quality for patients as well as the health service providers. Similarly, it touched on efficient delivery of healthcare services. The bill further had a clause for developing healthy communities by putting up preventive measures for chronic diseases so as to improve the public health. The Obamacare health policy placed emphasis on strengthening the healthcare workforce through training and recruitment. Good medical competencies and skills improve provision of health care services. Additionally, transparency and integrity to fight abuse and fraudulent cases were included in it. This enables patients to file complaints against health workers in case of mistreatment. The bill also addressed the need for access to innovative medication especially for children and lowly regarded communities. Community living assistance services and supports which provide benefits without using tax payers’ funds were also included. Finally, the bill had a clause for revenue provisions by reducing government costs through affordable medical coverage. Goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Tate reports that the patient protection and affordable bill sought to fulfill four main goals (13). First of all, it was to ensure better access to health care. This is because many Americans lacked health insurance for it was expensive. This policy would therefore make it easy for them to access medical services and enjoy monetary assistance. Secondly, it was to ensure reduction in healthcare costs. The expensive healthcare system resulted to poor medical affordability which also weakened the American economic system. Hence the policy was meant to reduce medical costs by shifting from the pre-existing system which dictated paying for medical services. Also, it was intended to increase the customer benefits and security. Many Americans had difficulties in accessing proper healthcare services despite their nation being considered as having the best medical services worldwide. Obamacare was therefore meant to increase the consumers’ health benefits by lowering insurance coverage limits. It was also a bid to address other troublesome issues that had destabilized the American health system. This would result in improved efficiency and affordable medical costs. What the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Meant for America The Obamacare bill impacted differently on the Americans depending on their categories and classes. The insured got access to increased benefits and protections. However, it resulted to some of the insured people dropping their coverages because of increased charges. Also, the presence of new entrants led to reduction in the quality of healthcare services. The law qualified the uninsured with low incomes for subsidized health cover. The high income earners had to buy the plan but at lower costs as compared to the private insurance market rates. This policy favored the senior citizens because they would benefit from expanded medical coverage. It also reduced their premiums by a small percentage of their expenditures. The tax payers incurred extra costs since they had to contribute half of the funding for the policy, which meant some financial implications. For the affluent, heavy taxes were imposed on them because they earn high income. This would increase the policy funding. The working families got substantive healthcare relief as heavy expenses were reduced for them. But the cost was to be passed on to ordinary people in form of higher premiums. The poor were entitled to benefit greatly in this policy because of access to greater medical coverage and other government subsidies. The unemployed were the unlucky lot because the bill reduced their chances of securing jobs. This is because many companies feared hiring new people due to inability to meet extra costs for health care provision. Children under 18 benefited much from this policy because their coverage would continue into the future. The young adults were not left out since the bill targeted them hence they got increased chances to health care insurance. Unfortunately, they have had to dig deeper into their pockets. Enactment of the Obamacare Policy The policy was enacted in March 2010 by President Barack Obama with an aim of reducing health care costs for the Americans. Another aim was to ensure equality in access to social amenities like medical services. The Democratic Congressional Leadership was therefore charged with the implementation of this policy (Keller 103). It decided to address healthcare needs by increasing entitlement to medical services and regulating insurance coverage. This policy continues owing to the existing American political system surrounding its implementation. Though the policy was an achievement to improve the existing health standards, Obama’s critics argued that it was not workable. They further labeled him as being overambitious claiming that he came up with policies which over-exploited the economy. Medical professionals also had negative perceptions about the policy and as Pipes writes, most opted for early retirement (201). They also alluded that fewer students would consider applying for medical courses. This is because of the strict supervision that the policy imposes on them as this is likely to infringe on their rights (Pipes 201). This would therefore lead to increased demand for medical services due to increased healthcare coverage, but with limited number of doctors. Despite the strong opposition, the policy won a large percentage of the public backing. This was evident in the Supreme Court ruling upholding the policy in June 2012 (Catalano 512). This marked a great achievement especially due to the fact that it was also followed by the re-election of President Obama. This implies the policy is operational. However, a lot still needs to be done to cub future challenges arising from the opponents who seek to repeal the policy (Catalano 512). Conclusion The health sector forms the backbone of any economy meaning changes should be welcomed. Therefore, health reforms by the Obamacare policy should not have been undermined since it was meant to positively contribute to the American economy. Due to the fact that the American health sector is technologically oriented, creating networks would make it easy to monitor the progress of patients (Raingruber 402). Works Cited Catalano, T. Joseph. Nursing Now! Today’s Issues, Tomorrow’s Trends. Philadelphia: F.A Davis Company, 2015. Print. Keller, Morton. Obama’s Time: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Print. Murdock, Kayla. Affordable Care Act: ObamaCare. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2012. Print. Pipes, Sally. The Truth about Obamacare. Washington, D C: Regnery Publishers, 2010. Print. Raingruber, Bonnie. Contemporary Health Promotion in Nursing Practice. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2014. Print. Tate, J. Nick. Obamacare Survival Guide. West Palm Beach: Humanix Books, 2013. Print. Read More