The Affordable Care Act and Maternal Health Care - Essay Example

? The Affordable Care Act and Maternal Health Care The Affordable Care Act and Maternal Health Care Problem Identification Whenthe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act came into being on March 23, 2010, the intent was to have affordable, quality health care available to all Americans. It was also a way of reducing costs, enhancing disease prevention and strengthening the healthcare of the workforce in general. Provided in the Act was the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program to help respond to some of the issues that affect children. All levels were expected to collaborate and partner in the provision of health and development of the stated outcomes through evidence-based home visiting programs. The main reason this issue was addressed in the Act was to improve the coordination services for at-risk communities and the children therein (Russo, Wier and Steiner, 2009). It also aims at improving and strengthening programs and activities carried out for children protection. It also aims to identify any comprehensive services that should not be part of the healthcare system as a way of increasing attention to those living in at-risk communities. Those involved in the whole process include health practitioners, the state, community and federal health-based centers and agencies such as the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and other partnering agencies. This issue was raised as a concern for the well-being of the children and as a means of enhancing healthcare from early childhood to the old age (Dann, 2008). It also encourages partnering agencies to strength the early childhood health system as a means of promoting health and the well-being of the pregnant mothers, children below 10yrs as well as their families. Such an effective and comprehensive agenda will allow more children to achieve the best healthcare program available and attract the support of other like-minded agencies. Background The realization that the early childhood protection system is necessary has been long overdue. For instance, in a study conducted in nine states between 1996 and 1999, it was noted that 17-41 percent of women of childbearing age women lacked insurance prior to pregnancy while 13-35 percent transitioned to Medicaid at some point during their pregnancy (Adam, Gavi, and Handler, 2006). The lack of this valuable attribute has limited the way the women would have planned for a successful pregnancy as the establishment of Medicaid eligibility after confirming pregnancy created a barrier for them to access timely prenatal care services (Courtot and Kaye, 2009). The policies in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have changed the social bearing of a large segment of childbearing women as the services will provide coverage to women with higher incomes than previous 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) (Russo, Wier, and Steiner, 2009). The political class has encouraged the implementation of this Act as a way of ensuring the budgetary allocations are provided to cater for the expenses. Their willingness in the actualization of the program will enhance child protection and health provisions that ensure stable childhoods and an eventual healthy population. The economic impacts are two fold. The country will spend highly to cover an additional 8.2 million women below 65 years who are not insured or are ineligible for Medicaid. The women in the lower income bracket of between 100 – 400 percent of the FPL will benefit from the Act through access to subsidies for purchasing health insurance. This will bring on board at least 7 million women under the age of 65 (Collins, Rustgi, and Doty, 2010). The social and ethical impacts of this provision will provide an avenue through which the communities will raise their health profile and sustain a healthy status. With young adults having been included in the access to health insurance, the community will benefit from the services they lacked in the beginning with mothers and young children being the biggest recipients (Dann, 2008). Stakeholders The outcome of the policy debate will be beneficial to all the interested parties. Childbearing will be the greatest beneficiaries of the policy debate. When implementations take place from 2014, essential services will be included in policies available through insurance exchanges. Further, maternity care will be improved through reforms that prohibit non-coverage of pre-existing conditions or are based on one’s health status. This will be both in the group and individual health insurance policies (Curtis, 2009). The federal government has boosted partnering agencies to enhance early childhood systems and improve on service delivery to families in at-risk communities. They have provided proposals on how to do home visits and how to utilize allocated funds to ensure pregnant mothers and the children receive the best medical attention possible. Allowing women to breastfeed their infants expressly for a year and the provision of time for that by the employer will help to meet the breastfeeding goals which are part of the recommendations by the ACF (Collins, Rustgi, and Doty, 2010). The employers will be affected by this policy. The Act requires employers to, among other things, create breaks for breastfeeding mothers to breast pump and/or feed their infants. Those who have an option are those with less than 50 employees if undue hardship is proved according to the law. The special interest groups are the children who depend on the mother’s interest in healthcare and the general health in their current condition. Women are supposed to take care of themselves first before taking care of another human, and in this case, a child. With the presence of childcare centers, the way children grow up depend entirely on the way the professionals treat their cases from inception to birth and thereafter. Issue Statement What hinders the achievement of comprehensive maternal healthcare and childcare are policies legislated by the political elite. Many have opposed the ACA as a waste of taxpayers’ money yet the benefits to be accrued from its implementation are immense. This will affect the childbearing women and how they socially affect the continued growth of the community. The attention required for mothers to establish a stable foundation for their children depends on the healthcare they get during their maternity period. This Act will not only enhance the health of the women but also of the child. The political class should thus endorse these proposals and help to build a stronger community based on quality health practices and affordable care from the community level all the way to the federal level (Curtis, 2009). Policy Objectives Once actualized, the following benefits are expected (Curtis, 2009): Strengthened services for offering birthing facilities and improvement in technology to implement timely response strategies; Create healthy and safe environment for children and their mothers by providing education and training to providers and practitioners; Improve birth outcomes and maternal and infant health through optimization of opportunities spelt out in ACA; Enhance public policy on low-income parents and community members; Encourage the use of community-based institutions in achieving healthcare goals; Manipulate the socio-ecological framework to help reduce factors that affect health and social outcomes by taking care of children and the ripple effects felt within the family, the community and the larger society; Ensure women are catered for in the insurance policies whether individual or group to enhance quality health without any discrimination of their gender or health status. Thus, the community is poised to benefit greatly from the policy only if the differences would be shed off, and the stakeholders engage in constructive debates. Policy Options Healthcare professionals, and especially the nursing professionals, play a crucial role in the achievement, success and sustainability of maternity and infant health benefits. They are involved mainly in the preserving of health and treatment of illnesses in the area of girls’ health, women’s health, reproductive health, safe deliveries, newborn health, child health and adolescent health. This indicates their critical involvement in the health of women from a tender age till they reach their childbearing years. This is a vital step that requires support from the relevant avenues (Collins, Rustgi, and Doty, 2010). They also get involved in the training of social workers when it comes to maternal and child health care. This means that the community-based clinics and visits will depend on their involvement in training social workers and the apparent success of the visits will emanate from dedication in the whole process. They are an excellent pillar in establishing the planning and monitoring programs that advocate for maternal, newborn and child health systems. In relation to their involvement in child care and maternal health, there are goals that should be achieved during specific periods and which should be used as a proposal towards greater involvement in the childcare health system. One proposal that will help to make the nursing professionals more involved in the health of the mother and the child is by the creation of safe care environments and the availability of resources (Collins, Rustgi, and Doty, 2010). As nurses getting involved in the care of children and their mothers can only be possible if the environment the children are in is safe from diseases, health complications as well as related risks. This will be achieved through proper implementation of the objective herein stated, and the provision of enough resources to help safeguard the health of the mothers before birth and that of their children after birth. Those taking care of the mothers and their children will also have to be trained to ensure they are fit enough to provide the expected services within the expected timeframe and within the expected parameters (Kane, 2009). Another proposal that the nursing community can utilize to achieve their goals is by ensuring that they provide expected healthcare that includes oral hygiene, nutrition education and developmental screening as a way of enhancing the health of the mother and baby. Tutorage on safety requirements for families and those engaged in childcare businesses will also be a sure way of enhancing healthcare since the nurses provide the same services as a duty (Collins, Rustgi, and Doty, 2010). Thus, their profession is quite involved in this issue and the way the government handles their involvement and their participation determines a great deal on how they will fair at the end of the day. In achieving these proposals, the federal government, through the department of health, should offer enough funding to increase the number of qualified nurses. The increase will enable them to reach many patients while creating a chance for more women to receive adequate health care. If the nurses do nothing, the women will have to look for alternatives which may jeopardize their health status (Sakala and Corry, 2008). Qualified assistance allows for improved health status. Therefore, their involvement will ensure greater involvement of women in ensuring the improvement of their health. That is the expected criteria which will provide a leeway for the stabilization of healthcare practices throughout the country and within the nursing profession. Evaluation Criteria The nursing profession can be of immense importance if involved in the policy making processes. The potential that nurses can inject in the whole process is due to their accessibility and their intent on quality provision. The nurses are most accessible practitioners since they engage in various activities that involve their community. As nurses engage in their daily routine, they come across many patients and their duty is to ensure that all are catered for. Quality is thus an inherent aspect of the nursing profession (Mannel and Mannel, 2006). By using this readily available platform the policy can be entrenched with the ideals of the community and the federal government all fused into one to achieve a common goal. This will be able to achieve the intended objectives of the policy and engage the ACA in implementing maternal childcare (Collins, Rustgi, and Doty, 2010). Such provisions allow for increased utilization of resources and allow for feasibility in the administration of the program in the long run. As a practitioner, the quality will only be achieved if the necessary attributes are put in place and this means that the communities have to be empowered to deal with the mothers. This way, nurses will be able to reach more women through the outreach programs created by these social workers working in community-based outreach centers. References Adams, E. K., Gavin, N. I., & Handler, A. (2003). Transitions in insurance coverage from before pregnancy through delivery in nine states, 1996-1999. Health Aff; 22, 219-29. Collins, S. R., Rustgi, S. D., & Doty, M. M. (July 2010). Realizing health reform’s potential: Women and the Affordable Care Act of 2010. New York: The Commonwealth Fund. Courtot, B., & Kaye, J. (2009). Still nowhere to turn: Insurance companies treat women like a pre-existing condition. Washington, DC: National Women’s Law Center. Curtis, B. A. (2009). Integrating breastfeeding advocacy within a pediatric prActice: A financially viable model. Poster presented at the 8th Annual Forum for Improving Children’s Healthcare, Grapevine, Texas. Dann, J. O. (2008). Providing lActation care: Seeking quality, efficiency reimbursement. Las Vegas, Nevada: United States Lactation Consultant Association. Kane, G. C. (2009). The anticipated physician shortage: meeting the nation’s need for physician services. The American Journal of Medicine, 122(12), 1156-1162. Mannel, p., & Mannel, R. S. (2006). Staffing for Hospital LActation Programs: Recommendations From a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital. J Hum LAct, 22(4). 409-417. Russo, C. A., Wier, L., & Steiner, C. (2009). Hospitalizations related to childbirth 2006. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Sakala, C., & Corry, M. P. (2008). Evidence-based maternity care: What it is and what it can achieve. New York: Milbank Memorial Fund. Read More