American Family Ability to Purchase Affordable Comprehensive Healthcare Insurance - Essay Example

The ICA policy is likely to result in several market reforms that will see many Americans, who previously could not afford healthcare insurance, take advantage of the expanded Medi-cal and federal subsidiaries through covered California; a health benefit exchange that will increase benefits covered under the comprehensive healthcare insurance while lowering the costs of insurance. However, with increased enrollment, improved benefits and implied limitations on the sharing of costs, most Americans are going to experience an increase in costs and premiums paid while purchasing individual medical covers for themselves and their families.

According to the Californian Association of Health Plans (1-4), the ICA provisions are likely to affect the costs of insurance in a number of different ways. One, individuals will be forced to buy insurance policies that offer almost similar benefits to those offered by the employer and this is likely to cost more and attract more premiums. Two, according to the National Institute for Health Care Management(1), the ACA requires insurance healthcare plans to cover a higher percentage of medical costs, which is likely to increase the annual premiums. Three, ACA will increase the insured benefits, which will result in a proportionate increase in the insurance costs because of an increase in average premiums charged.

Four, ICA forces insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions and prohibits them from exerting extra charges for poor health conditions; this is likely to force them to raise the healthcare premiums for the entire market in order to widen the common pool. Five, based on the Milliman client report (10), ACA provisions make it very impossible to lower premiums based on the age of the applicant; this implies that younger people will be charged higher premiums just like older people. Six, ACA makes it compulsory for all Americans to enroll in insurance; this implies that the elderly and more risky members of the population will enroll thus raining the general cost of insurance in the market.
Problem statement
Implementation of the ICA policy and its provisions is likely to raise the insurance costs beyond the ability of most American families. In addition to this, the policy is likely to affect the scope of coverage of the comprehensive healthcare insurance for American families and their beneficiaries. In the end, the sustainability of the expansive coverage of the ACA policy will be at stake unless policymakers and other stakeholders take urgent measures to lower the costs of accessing healthcare insurance benefits.
Purpose of the proposed study
The purpose of the proposed study is therefore to explore perceptions of Americans regarding the impact of ACA and coverage of comprehensive healthcare insurance policies and recommend various ways of lowering the costs while expanding the benefits to include abortion coverage.
Scope of analysis
The scope of this study shall include:
• Impact of ACA on the affordability of comprehensive healthcare insurance
• Impact of ACA on the scope of coverage of comprehensive healthcare insurance
• Perceptions of the Americans on the impact of the ACA policy on affordability and coverage of comprehensive medical insurance
• Recommendations on a policy framework that would ensure affordability of healthcare insurance and improvement of the scope of benefits to include abortion coverage
Proposed methodology
Secondary data on the demographic composition of the American families, insurance policy frameworks and the implications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the scope of coverage of healthcare insurance in America will be gathered from government publications such as Current Population Surveys from US Census Bureau, trade and scholarly sources. The proposed document will also contain surveys concerning the perception of employees regarding the impact of the ACA policy on the affordability of healthcare insurance benefits and the scope of coverage of insurance benefits. The study site will be my university and the study population will be the employees at the university. The descriptive research design will be used to gather data on ACA policy and address the research problem. Convenience sampling shall be used to select actual respondents to the study.

The proposed study will take a minimum of 35 days comprising of four hours a day to plan and design the study, collect secondary and primary data, analyze the data and develop the final report for presentation. The total expenditure for the proposed study will be $ 130. The following is the proposed budget.

This study is very important for the accomplishment of my academic requirements. I, therefore, wish to request your feedback and approval for the immediate commencement of the study. I would appreciate your guidance on areas that need clarification and improvement.