Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Of 2010 that Address Role of Public Programs - Term Paper Example

 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Of 2010 That Address Role of Public Programs Abstract Issues surrounding health care are very sensitive just like other sectors of the economy. Various countries have strategized measures seeking to better and improve the state of health care for the citizens. Certain countries have made steps in formulating laws viewed at protecting health rights of the citizens. Insurance cover has been one of common constituents of health care. The following paper will focus on discussing health care measures employed by various governments especially the US government and its Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010. Introduction The act was passed on May 3, 2010 by the house of Congress of the US. The Act was qualified with strategic targets of ensuring delivery of quality and affordable health care. The Act also designated to develop transformation to contain costs within health care sector. The Act also focused to ensure that 94% of the American citizens have health care insurance. Furthermore, the Act planned to offer tax relief for health professionals with state loans destined to ensuring increased availability of health care services to underserved regions as well as attracting and addressing the shortage of health care professionals. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act planned to alienate discriminations in the health insurance sectors. The policy wanted to achieve the commendable goals of transforming health care insurance programs without raising the premiums to be paid by the individual employees yet ensuring coverage to all citizens. The act further defines clear grounds for prohibition of recession in the insurance policies. The Patient Protection and Affordable Act of 2010 shaped to encourage massive investment in new therapy technologies. The government under the Act allocated $ 1bilion for credit viewed to encourage health care personnel invest in therapies that could help in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of degenerative diseases. The Act further intended to provide small business tax relief and credit to help in the purchase of health care insurance to the employees. The Act aimed at providing up to 35% immediate premiums to the small firms that planned to use government’s offer. In the policy, full credit was offered to firms that had more than ten employees who earn average annual wage of $25000. The provision also requires that all citizen of the US obtain health care insurance coverage. The provision established stringent directives to individuals without the coverage as they have to pay tax penalty of $695 per year. The tax penalty set was to increase annually with regard to the adjustment in the cost of living. The Act further obliged employers with more than 200 employees to provide automatic health care insurance coverage with the will of the individual employees. The policy also viewed to expand the Medicaid program to eligible individuals including pregnant women, children and other adults who have no dependants. Furthermore, the provision intended to ensure maintenance of the existing income eligibility levels for children in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) extending to 2019. The policy also included that by 2014 and 2016, the federal government be in a position to offer relief of 100% of the cost covering new eligible members. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010 purposed to simplify the enrolment procedures into the Medicaid and CHIP through the websites run by states. The provision further established strategies for introduction of optional Medicaid benefits to community based health care consumers who would otherwise not receive health care services unless admitted to hospitals or nursing care facilities. The policy also required the Secretary of Health and Human Service to form Federal Coordination Health Care Office to monitor and integrate health care under the Medicaid and Medicare programs. The Federal Coordination Health Care Office also had sole mandate of improving and coordinating participation of federal and state governments in monitoring progression for individuals enrolled in both the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was destined to improve the quality and efficiency of the medical care to every citizen of the US but with special regard to the double eligible citizens enrolled in both the Medicaid and the Medicare. The provisions further structured towards ensuring that the quality of health care services correlates with the payments made for health care. The Act also commissioned government to conduct occasional support research on the consumers’ response with reference to the kind of treatment and care received. The policy also intended to repair the Medicare Part D of the drug prescription to reduce the donut hole present in the Medicare program. The policy also defined measures by which the Secretary of Health and Human Service to formulate viable strategies envisioned at improving the quality of health care infrastructures and service delivery. The Patient Protection and Affordable Act 2010 did spread the floor for ensuring that the beneficiaries of health care in remote areas get easy access to the doctors (NCSL, 2010). The Act further proposes for Medicare benefits that involve air and ground ambulances for the beneficiaries in remote and rural areas. Patient Protection and Affordable Act 2010 extends reimbursements and the adjustments of the rural hospitals and Sole Community Hospitals for the modification and updating of lab technologies in the particular hospitals. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act intended to create strategic programs to facilitate creation of community based health care teams to rally and provide health care services at the doorsteps of the individual beneficiaries. The Act also projects to support research on the nature of health care delivery and set viable plans to improve quality, efficiency and safety of the health care services delivered to specific beneficiaries. The provision also set measures to help in the prevention of chronic disease by ensuring solemn establishment of infrastructures that enhance thorough prevention and control of chronic diseases. The Patient Protection and Affordable Act outline strategies for encouraging innovation among health care providers as well as encouraging thorough training of the workforce in line with the transformation in technology. The Patient Protection and Affordable Act 2010 aims at increasing the number of health care workers to match the existing consumer base by encouraging provision of loans to the students undertaking health care studies. The provision seeks to raise the number of nursing schools in line with increase in the loan margins for individual students to pay for educational programs. Moreover, the provision proposes for cut in loans of the graduate nursing students who have served for three years as health care professionals. In addition, the policy broadens the scholarship base for the disadvantaged but committed health care workers and students to further their training in the field of health care. The provision further creates grounds for temporary reinsurance program for employers intending to provide health care insurance coverage to their retired employees. Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act can be implementing in various ways, which ensure that every individual and participant in the country’s economy is enlightened of the developments. In the views of Community Catalyst.org, one of the applicable strategies for implementation of the provisions is through public education. The federal and state governments have to select and choose groups of individuals recruited to spread and offer education to the citizens who have developed negative perception of the concept. The governments should also encourage teaching of the reforms in schools to prepare the children and the students concerning their rights to medical care. Public education will ensure that the citizens get concerning the new development win the health care sector. Community Catalyst.org indicates that holding f public events is one of the viable strategies that can be used in fostering implantation process of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Such public events may include participation in the celebration events of a community’s health centre to attract the attention and enrolment of many people into health plans. In addition, preparation of presentations in schools with elaboration of the new benefits attributed to the health care protection plan may work towards attracting more citizens in enrolling in the health care insurance cover plan. Furthermore, implementation strategies could involve the collection of stories from consumers and using them to formulate systems of convincing individual citizens turn away from the dismissive perception and seek enrolment into the health care protection and affordability plan. The concerned authorities with the implementation plan of the Patient Protection and Affordable Act can engage the use of media lines to transmit and spread convincing information attributed to the adoption of the health care plan. Implementation steering committee may use newspaper publication, radio shows and television advertisements to spread information concerning the implementation of the provision (Community Catalyst.org). Moreover, the implementation steering committee can also employ the use of internet sites and web sites to publicize the implementation strategies of the health care provision as well as educating internet users concerning the advantages of involvement in the protection plan insurance coverage. Implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010, poses serious implications to the various players in the health care sector. The mandatory enrolment into the health care insurance ensures that coverage of all employees, an act that provides security for individual health care consumers (HealthCare.gov, 2011). The strengthening of Medicare and Medicaid has worked towards improving provision of health care to children and other eligible members of the families. Consumers are also compelled to participate in the health care funding plan that at times leaves particular families with little income to carry home. Insurance companies are susceptible to suffer loses as well as gaining great advantages from the implantation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010. Increase in number of the participant has greatly led to the automatic stability of the individual insurance company. In that line, the profit margins of the insurance companies. Implementation of the health provision 2010 will mean an increase in the number of health care providers in the US. The availability of government loans and lowered interest rate promotes borrowing of loans for use in education purposes. Implementation of the health care will ensure raised level health care literacy within the communities. In conclusion, the health care project of the US looks complex and demanding. However, health care provisions as pictured by the US health care policy are special and worth imitation. The US health care plans have assisted in modernizing systems and ensuring that every individual in the economy of America gets a cover. References Community Catalyst.org. State Implementation of National Health care reform Strategies for Public Outreach. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://www.communitycatalyst.org/doc_store/publications/Strategies_for_Public_Outreach.pdf HealthCare.gov. (2011). Report to Congress: National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://www.healthcare.gov/law/resources/reports/quality03212011a.html Healthcare.gov.(2011). The Health Care Law & You. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://www.healthcare.gov/law/index.html Kline, J., MD, Jennifer & Walthall. (2011). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Summary, Analysis, and Opportunities for Advocacy for the Academic Emergency Physician. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2912000 McMorrow, S. Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 Improve Health Outcomes for Individuals and Families? Retrieved November 16, 2011 from http://www.urban.org/publications/412127.html NCSL. (2011). 010 State Actions to Implement Federal Health Reform. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=20231 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Retrieved November 15, 2011 from http://dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf Read More