The Affordable Healthcare Act: An Analysis with Respect to Underserved Populations - Essay Example

Section/# The Affordable Healthcare Act of 2009 was originally intended as a massive overhaul of the nation’s health care system. Due to the fact that the crafters of this particular piece of legislation saw the existing system as inadequate and unable to meet unique needs of society, key provisions of the Affordable Healthcare Act were promoted in order to engage the general needs of broader society. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that broader society has all too often been determined to speak to the needs of large extent the groups. In such a way, it is oftentimes the case that the needs of vulnerable populations are not often met with regards to health care legislation, or legislation of any type for that matter. In this particular way, the following analysis will seek to understand and engage upon the means by which the Affordable Healthcare Act has acted to prove the needs and the general welfare those individuals who are at most risk within society; individuals which had previously been excluded from the benefits that various other types of government aid had been able to sponsor within the United States. Furthermore, the analysis will seek to understand the means by which the ideology of the Affordable Health Care Act can be linked to the extant needs of the vulnerable population that is under discussion. From such an analysis it is the further hope of this author that the reader will be able to come away from this discussion and research with the understanding that the Affordable Healthcare Act was able to provide a windfall benefit to a great number of individuals within society that could otherwise be termed as “vulnerable populations” (Irestig et al. 223). Although it was not the specific goal of the legislation under consideration to address the specific needs of the underserved individuals within society populations within the United States, the means by which the legislation was crafted and the goals which it sought to pursue led to no other option but encouraging a further level of integration with the demands of the current era. Many individuals within society are of the belief that there exists a broad range of social programs and government-sponsored safety net that speak to the healthcare needs of underserved individuals within society populations. However, the fact of the matter is that many individuals within the United States had been forced into underserved communities within the United States due to the fact that they were unable to pay outstanding medical bills (Garrett 17). More specifically, programs such as Medicaid require that the individual has children under their direct care in order to accrue the benefits that such a program can provide. However, the general society assumes the fact that such governmental programs are available based upon needs alone and do not have any such requirements. Within such an understanding, it can readily be noted why this particular vulnerable population has previously been underserved with regards the level of healthcare provision that has been available to them in the past. Yet, as a direct result of the Affordable Healthcare Act, this vulnerable population has experienced a reduction in the overall limitations which had previously constrained the provision of healthcare (Wentzel 79). Yet, it must be understood by the reader that the Affordable Healthcare Act in and of itself is not physically providing benefits to the previously uncovered populations of underserved individuals within society within the United States; rather, what is actually being done is that the legislation itself has affected the means by which Medicaid operates. By expanding the program to allow for individuals that these at risk individuals reap the benefits that had previously been reserved for a select population, that has briefly been defined, the legislation provided a paradigm shift with regards to the means by which this vulnerable population can utilize and integrate with key levels of healthcare that had not previously been available to them. Sadly, as more and more information is understood concerning the Affordable Care Act of 2009, it has become apparent that a single payer system has not emerged (Reilly et al. 67). Although this was originally promised as a direction that the system would ultimately progress towards, the situation as it exists currently is one in which the Affordable Care Act only acts as a type of conduit between insurance companies and the government; as a means of encouraging every individual within the society to have a federally mandated health care plan of some variety/form/fashion (Singer 44). As such, the reality of the situation is one in which the underserved and most vulnerable individuals within society cannot leverage the benefits of this program to the degree or extent to which they might otherwise do so. The underlying reason has to do with the fact that the entire insurance mandate, stipulated within the Affordable Care Act, is more concentric upon mandating that insurance be purchased than it is towards providing universal coverage. In such a manner, those that are the most at risk within society (those that do not have the financial means to purchase health insurance) are still left out under the new framework that has herein been defined (Seiler and Moss 305). This of course is a core weakness that has not seen, and likely will not see, the situation drastically improved in the very near future. An interesting component of the above provision regarding underserved communities within the United States and the means by which health care can be provided to this population is the fact that the legislation itself seeks to find a means of preventing and ending underserved communities within the United States as a result of the efforts outlined above (Nickasch 40). This is something unique with regards to the way in which legislation and federal efforts have previously been engaged due to the fact that prior efforts have almost always been concentric upon merely providing money and/or services for a specific vulnerable population; without seeking to ameliorate the unique needs that this particular group might have. However, as a function of this particular form of legislation, money is not only appropriated to covering underserved individuals within society individuals with healthcare, it is also appropriated to engaging these populations in key programs to seek to end underserved communities within the United States by attacking the determinants that seek to prolong it. 2012). Broadly speaking, these programs that go along with the legislation that is under discussion are referred to as “health programs”; even though they are defined as behavioral courses and offerings to individuals that suffer from what the government terms as “chronic underserved communities within the United States”. Although it is too early to determine whether or not these programs have been able to integrate with any form or level of success, it is somewhat naïve to assume that such programs could affect what so many other programs, both private and public, have failed to affect with regards to this particular goal. Yet this aspect in and of itself should not be seen as a reason for disregarding such an innovative approach. Lastly, it must be understood that the etiology behind this particular provision was the fact that key members of Congress and the voting electorate become increasingly concerned regarding the increasing rates of underserved communities within the United States that placed a key strain not only upon communities but upon the healthcare system within the United States. Even a cursory level of analysis reveals the fact that a disproportionately high number of costly emergency room visits each and every year are related to the underserved individuals within society population. Within such a context, it can be understood that the broad focus of the Affordable Healthcare Act had little, if any concern for the means by which the underserved individuals within society population was administered to and dealt with; however, due to the fact that the legislation was so large and must necessarily incorporate so many different aspects, it was intended to serve the needs of much larger “key populations”. From an even broader perspective, it could be argued that the main goal of the Affordable Health Care Act was, if not specifically, at least tangentially meant to further the specific needs of the disenfranchised members of society and provide them a way in which healthcare and the key determinants surround it could be provided to them. Most importantly with regards to how the change in legislation actually affects the members of the underserved individuals within society community within the United States, it must be realized that a great deal of the Affordable Health Care Act’s legislative authority comes from the ability to constrain and manage the means by which states managed the provision of healthcare within their respective systems. From this very determinant, it can clearly be seen why so many different states sought to challenge the demands that the Affordable Healthcare Act made mandatory. Seeking to continue business as usual, many states took the challenge all the way to the Supreme Court; however, as was seen this past year, the attempts to block the Affordable Healthcare Act have been fruitless and states are now forced to integrate with the legislative demands that it portends; up to and including the expansion of Medicaid programs to cover their underserved individuals within society populations – as has been indicated within this brief analysis (Schneller 23). The shift itself has yet to be fully seen due to the fact that aspects of the Affordable Healthcare Act do not go into law until various stages in the near future; however, it is reasonable to assume that the specific changes which have been discussed will have a positive and noticeable impact upon the means by which the needs of this particular vulnerable population are served (Seiler & Moss, 2012). An understanding of the way in which legislation is able to protect the needs and ultimate human rights of vulnerable populations is necessary and extraordinarily useful. This is due to the fact that unlike the other population that integrate with healthcare or other services economy, vulnerable populations have nowhere to turn unless their needs are met by the society at large. Though many individuals within society, or the healthcare and even insurance industries may be put off by such a level of responsibility, it is nonetheless the only ethical and responsible approach which can be taken. In such a manner, it is the belief of this particular author that the Affordable Healthcare Act provides an actionable means by which the utility of these vulnerable populations, as well as overall health of society, can be improved upon. Works Cited Garrett, Daniel, G. 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