Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Essay Example

"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" is a perfect example of a paper on the health system. Health is an important issue and the American population was in dire need of a reform that could facilitate them in the provision of healthcare services that were affordable for them. When unemployment had taken place rapidly as the fire in the forest then many people had to suffer in America and along with those unemployed and uneducated workers, their families and children also faced poverty. Americans needed many things, which could relieve them along with food and education. The most needed element was health care reform. Health care reform, which was introduced by President Barack Obama in 2010, caused the Americans great relief in the case of their health (Jacobs & Skocpol, 2012). 

As the health department of America is expensive and a middle-class man is not able to afford it without healthcare insurance, the health care reform also called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provided some relief to the citizens. This act was signed by the president to provide affordable and effective health care for all Americans (Huntington, et al, 2011). Many people argued opposing this Act that it would not be beneficial for the people, but to the insurance companies only. The main point was that everyone saw different pros and cons related to the act, but in actuality, in this Act, cons were lessened, so that America could be able to catch more opportunities to take care of the health of its people and spend lesser cost or expense for their health care (Jacobs & Skocpol, 2012).

There are many features of healthcare reform, which are given ahead. There are mandatory requirements for employers as well as individuals to acquire some form of healthcare insurance, and in otherwise situation, they will be penalized legally. A whole system of financial assistance (subsidy) was required to be created to finance fractionally or wholly for nearly thirty-four million Americans who were unable to gain healthcare insurance on their behalf, as they were previously supported financially with the help of Medicare. The reform has also introduced unending innovative needs related to the healthcare insurance industry. Along with highlighting new requirements, the reform also presented frequent legislation related to the practicing of medicine in America (Huntington, et al, 2011).

The reform aims at not only broadening its extent to relief additional millions of Americans in the field of healthcare but also objectifies towards endorsing the healthcare policies regarding the associated costs in terms of their reduction and becoming affordable. The reform is very much concerned with the costs involved in healthcare. The reform looks towards transforming the delivery system and increasing the costs of healthcare. Legally, the reform in totality does not depend on anyone policy related to cost control due to which, there are many ways that can be adopted for keeping a check on the cost of the reform (Orszag & Emanuel, 2010).

Overall, the notion cannot be rejected that the healthcare reform was introduced for making healthcare accessible for all Americans. Americans mainly depend on healthcare insurance for the provision of healthcare services, so the reform allowed them to get insurance. This reform initially targeted 34 million Americans only, but it intends to target more.

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