The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care - Assignment Example

 The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Health Care The high cost of health insurance prompted the government in to enact the Affordable CareAct that at its inception was aimed at expanding health Insurance coverage to more Americans. The Act was meant to help an estimated 30 million to 34 million people once it was enacted. However, although the legislation was important to the American people the workforce required to meet the demands of the influx in the number of patients is high. The American number of people that are projected to be helped by the Act will be very high and as a result the promise to Americans that better access and quality of care will not be met. The escalating number of patients that will cause shortages in the number of workforce shortages a problem that has been in the United States for the last decade. The shortages in the number of workforce will prompt the United States government to train new people and integrate them into the workforce. The process will take years and the number of people that the government handed a new means to healthcare that is accessible and has a high level of care cannot be realized. This paper examines the problem raised by the enactment of the Affordable Care Act and the level to the workforce and the quality and accessible of care. The enactment of the ACA as a law it was meant to ensure that the quality of care and also the number of people that are accessing healthcare (David and Stremikis, 2013). The medical professionals and the institutions have been working hard to make sure that they maximize their efforts to ensure that the people get proper care. The ACA has let too many people to afford care without increasing the workforce needed to ensure that the care is successfully met. From an economists perspective if demand is greater than supply there is deemed to be a shortage in supply that can only lead to increase in prices. The ACA is increasing the demand and does not increase the supply causing a shortage since the prices that the ACA is bringing to the market is too low. The ACA is making a bad situation worse since the level of shortages in the US have worsened and WITH THE Medicaid and the Federal and State Insurance exchanges the situation will only heat up. In addition there is deemed to be a distribution shortfall in the number of people that can take drugs to all the parts of the nation. With more practitioners distributed in the urban area there is a problem in the number of people that can access quality health care in all the states in the US (Hawes, et al 2012). The looming retirements is also another factor that further compounds the problem of workforce shortages in the country that will only increase more pressure on the government to do more to ensure that the population gets access to quality and accessible healthcare (Hardcastle, et al, 2011). It is also important to note that with the increase in the number of patients there will also be a lot of patients that require a high intensity of care. These patients require 24HR care and supervision. With the ACA in play and more people projected to have acquired health Insurance in the next few years the number of people dying due to these conditions will only increase. There ACA has directly impacted the workforce who includes the nurses and physicians alike. With the increase in the number of patients, the number of patients that a nurse attends to in a day have increased (David and Stremikis, 2013). The physicians are also affected since this increases their cumulative visits and changes in their shifts to ensure that the number of unattended patients is reduced. One of the effects of the changes is the heavier workloads as aforementioned. The heavy workloads are stressing workforce that eventually leads to medical errors that can be fatal to the patients. There is more paperwork meaning that the nurses have to file more documents and all the workers in the healthcare system have to deal with increased paperwork. The Act also gives rise to increased dissatisfaction and also burnout. With the workforce constantly working their socks off each day there are those that get depression and stress due to the number of patients (Jacobson and Jazowski, 2012). The workers are dissatisfied with their profession since they feel that they do not enjoy serving the people as much as they previously had anticipated. There is also the case of burnout especially among the nurses that work so hard to ensure that they attend to all their patients (Jacobson and Jazowski, 2012). The nurses have to work a long shift and move around the hospital daily since they have to attend to all their patients. The workforce stress is prompting some of the workers to consider other jobs and careers that they may find fulfilling. Although the ACA detrimentally affects the workforce the patients are worst hit by the effects of the influx in the number of patients in hospitals. The ACA main aim was to ensure that access to healthcare was accessible and affordable for all (Hardcastle, et al, 2011). However, although the change is well-grounded the effects have not been met due to the shortage in the workforce. The patients have faced the blunt of this problem since they cannot access the medical care that they desperately need and also get the proper quality care as previously promised (Hawes, et al 2012). The access to health care has seriously been dented since the number of care facilities are reducing and the number of willing parties merging to form a huge hospital and using their resources to remain in the market. The patients are increasing at an increasing level and the hospitals are tasked with ensuring that they meet the high demand. The problem has manifested itself since the number of people that are lacking the care they need for their conditions has increased (Hardcastle, et al, 2011). Although the government is looking for ways to change the situation the effects are not immediately felt since the plan will take time to implement. Meanwhile, the patients that are still suffering for getting inadequate care are increasing. The politics surrounding the ACA are many since majority of the people the professionals and other people alike feel that it has worsened the level of care. People are beginning to question the viability of the plan to enhance proper care for the citizens. When the implementation of the main provisions of the Act was implemented there were various problems that faced the process (Jacobson and Jazowski, 2012). The Act gave rise to the emergence of narrow networks of doctors and medical providers and also the reduction in health plan competition in the exchanges (Hawes, et al 2012). These problems need to be properly evaluated and means formulated to ensure that the problems are eradicated before the Congress starts to act. The Congress has in its own capacity given a detailed Federal role over health care financing for the government but the roll-out plan is not feasible since it may affect the delivery of health care and the access to the health care by majority of the Americans. The current administration has also disregarded the former administration for the Doctor’s conscience. The doctors and nurse had been promised that they would be allowed to withdraw from a situation or procedure is they did not feel that it was in line with their moral and religious attributes. The present administration has however, denied the doctors and nurses the power. The ACA has also introduced the pay per performance method to the workforce (Hardcastle, et al, 2011). The law allows the workforce to be paid for a job well done thereby decreasing in costs for the government. These two rules by the new law are not appreciated by the workforces thereby creating stress and dissatisfaction. In conclusion, the ACA law and initiatives was a change to right direction since quality and affordable care is a major problem in the society. However, the method through which the implementation of the law was applied is the main problem. If the plan was given more time and rolled-out in a period of five years then the consequences of the problem would not be very critical as it presently is. A way forward should be drafted in order to maximize on the plan. References Davis, K., Abrams, M., & Stremikis, K. (2013). How the Affordable Care Act Will Strengthen the Nation's Primary Care Foundation. Journal of General Internal Medicine. doi:10.1007/s11606-011-1720-y Hardcastle, L. E., Record, K. L., Jacobson, P. D., & Gostin, L. O. (2011). Improving the Population’s Health: The Affordable Care Act and the Importance of Integration. Hawes, C., Moudouni, D. M., Edwards, R. B., & Phillips, C. D. (2012). Nursing Homes and the Affordable Care Act: A Cease Fire in the Ongoing Struggle Over Quality Reform. Journal of Aging & Social Policy. doi:10.1080/08959420.2012.660046 Jacobson, P. D., & Jazowski, S. A. (2012). Physicians, the Affordable Care Act, and Primary Care: Disruptive Change or Business as Usual? Journal of General Internal Medicine. doi:10.1007/s11606-011-1695-8 The Rhetoric Hits the Road: State Resistance to Affordable Care Act Implementation. (2012). Read More