The Cure for Obamacare - Essay Example

? Obamacare Access to physical and mental health care of the highest attainable standard free of discrimination is the human right of every human being regardless of his or her race, age, or gender. All over the world in both poor and rich countries, there are people without access to healthcare services that is for both physical and mental treatments. This may result from the unavailability of the services in their communities. However, the main cause of inaccessibility to healthcare services is the inability to raise funds or unavailability of the resources to pay for the services (Liberty, 2012). Those who have access to the services incur large costs, as the services tend to be pricy. This applies to all nations with America not left out of the list. The system of healthcare provision to the American people is a problem, which was replicated over past generations of the American history and requires the attention of the involved parties. The United States healthcare system is broken down and no one has the idea of how to fix it. Although the country is an economic giant and a superpower, the situation in the health sector is wanting. A fortunate portion of the American population has insurance cover mostly from their employment that covers their healthcare related costs (Liberty, 2012). However, most of the American people are not lucky enough to have healthcare coverage and as a result, they tend to suffer as they lack the essential access to the services. It is this situation that created questions such as “why do we keep using the health care system if it does not work?” “Do we need a universal health care system to act as a single payer and cover the American people in their attempts to get health care services?” These concerns facilitated the drafting of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) a United States federal statue that was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barrack Obama. The act commonly referred to as Obamacare or the Affordable care Act (ACA) is the most significant overhaul of the regulations of the system of healthcare of the country since the Medicaid passing in 1965.the ACA established minimum standards in the policies of health insurance (Pipes, 2013). The guaranteed issue in the act the denial of coverage to individuals by insurers based on pre-existing conditions. This means all applicants with the same age and in the same geographical location offer the same insurance premium prices. The act mandates every individual without insurance cover that is from the employer, public or Medicaid sponsored to secure a private-insurance cover unless the individual is in financial constraints or is a member of a religious denomination that is recognized and does believe in insurance covers. Failure to comply makes a person liable to a fine. Health insurance exchanges that will serve as an online marketplace for small businesses and individuals to compare and buy policies should commence operations in every state according to the act. The exchanges will provide subsidies on a sliding scale from the federal government for families and individuals with low-incomes ranging from 100% to 400% of poverty level created by the federal government (Liberty, 2012). The act also expanded the eligibility for Medicaid to individuals and families with incomes going up to 133% of the federal poverty level with the inclusion of a 5% income disregard. The employer mandate subjects employers who do not provide health care insurance to at least 50 employees to a tax penalty if there are provisions of subsidies in health care for full-time employees through tax deductions by the government. The reforms in the system of Medicare payment aim at promoting efficiency in the delivery system of health care through restructuring reimbursements of Medicare to bundled payments and not fee-to-service (Pipes, 2013). It seeks to provide access to Americans to affordable health insurance of high quality while reducing the ever-growing health care bill of the American people. The effect of this is a number of significant changes that affect the providers of the service that is health care stimulated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in conjunction with the Education Reconciliation Act that are collectively called health care reform. One of the healthcare provider organizations affected by the act is the Cleveland Clinics, Ohio. The Cleveland Clinic is a world-renowned organization that has a large employee size being the second largest employer in Ohio after Wal-Mart. However, the large medical service provider has had to change the corporate structure and governance of its organization (Cortez, 2013). The reforms have significantly reduced the price of insurance policies for the American people. This means that patients will be paying less for the same services offered before the reforms. The act also stipulates that there will be reductions to Medicare. Health care providers will be reimbursed less than before for providing care to patients covered by Medicare. This results in a significant reduction in the cost of health care services (Pipes, 2013). However, the other side of this reduced cost of health care means a reduction in the revenues received by hospitals as payment for services rendered. This prompts hospitals and other health care providers to undergo changes in their spending through reductions in the budget. Cleveland Clinic is one institution carrying out cuts in its budget. The organization announced on Wednesday 18th October of this year that it will lay off a significant size of its large workforce in an attempt to cut on its budget by a $330 million (Cortez, 2013). The ACA promotes new health care systems delivery like the Accountable Care Organizations (ACA). The Cleveland Clinic seeks to incorporate these arrangements into its system. This will change the structure of the organization, as there will be fewer employees. However, some certain state limitations of medicine’s corporate practice impose barriers on the process of these changes. The reforms also brought changes in the governance of the organization. The clinic now offers early retirement to employees in a bid to cut on the wage bill (Cortez, 2013). The PPACA forced the Cleveland Clinic to abolish its 40-hour workweek program for its employees. The reduction in cost of health care will result in overcrowding of already overwhelmed hospitals. The Cleveland Clinic in anticipation changed its policies to allow differing intake procedures relying on the severity of the requirement of care (Cortez, 2013). The policies have also seen the lowering of readmission rates. Cleveland Clinic is an organization that is involved in a number of projects in fulfilling its social responsibility to the community. In 2010, the company was awarded as one of the Most Ethical Companies of the World. The company runs extended free employee programs and a comprehensive public health program for adult residents in Cuyahoga County that is free among other programs for the society (Liberty, 2012). The new health care reforms have prompted the company to cut down its budget expenditure in anticipation of the effects of the enforcement of the law. This budget reduction includes the trimming down of the free campaign for the comprehensive public health and reducing the number of dependents in the extended employee programs. The reforms therefore produce a causal effect that reduces the participation of the health care facility in social responsibility. In Cleveland Clinic, culture is a very important aspect of the relationship between patient and physician. The employee provides a consistent patient experience drawing on the positive and what is best for the patient through the awareness that they are caregivers. This is bound to change under the new health care regulations. ACA lowers the cost of health care while increasing the number of patients in hospitals (Cortez, 2013). This means an increased workload for the employees but without the usual pay. As a result, the doctors may focus on treating as many patients as possible and not focusing on what is best for the patients (Pipes, 2013). This ripple effect changes the culture of the clinic. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio should motivate its employees through establishing a payment system based on their performance and service delivery. A checklist to rate the service delivery of employees by the patients would help to determine the service delivery of the employees (Pipes, 2013). This would help to improve and maintain the culture of good patient-doctor relationships. The organization should establish incentives to control costs of running its operations. This would help to remove the deficit anticipated from the new health reform schemes and therefore avail more money for the budget (Pipes, 2013). The effect of this will manifest in both organizational structure and social responsibility. A larger budget will enable the organization to maintain its employees as it will be able to meet the wage bill and provide the health care coverage required and will therefore enable the maintaining of the company structure. The budget will avail money used in the social responsibility programs and enable the continued funding of the projects. The state of the health care system of the United States has now been dysfunctional as the case in the past several decades. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, “Obamacare”, is a federal law statue that aims at fixing the problems associated with the system through improving transparency in the sector and increasing the portion of the population that has access to insurance cover for health care by lowering premium costs (Liberty, 2012). However, the act is a simple and complex enactment that seeks to better the lives of the American people. The transition period may have many constraints but the achievement of its target goals will allow every citizen of the nation to have medical insurance cover and access to quality health care services. References Cortez, M. (2013). Cleveland Clinic Trims Budget to Corral Costs Before Obamacare. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-18/cleveland-clinic-trims-budget-to-corral-costs-before-obamacare.html [Accessed: 4 Nov 2013]. Liberty, J. (2012). F.r.e.e.d.o.m.. iUniverse Pipes, S. (2013). The cure for Obamacare. New York: Encounter Books. Read More