...The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Impact on Quality of Care A steady stream of information has flooded our media sources talking about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) for several years now. This act signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010 has been one of the biggest steps towards a comprehensive health care reform for all Americans. The fundamental goals of the ACA are to decrease the cost of health care, increase the quality of health care services and make health care accessible to all, particularly the uninsured (Williams, 2013). The increase of individuals that will be soon be insured will have a huge impact on the existing structure of our health care system, especially the quality of care that can be provided to patients along with the implementation or improvements that are being made to the electronic health record systems being used (or implemented) in hospitals or other health care settings. There have been many critics and supporters of the ACA since it was signed into law in 2010. One of the most significant changes being discussed is the requirement for all individuals to have health insurance either provided by their employer or by purchasing an individual insurance plan; all individuals are required to have health insurance by January 1, 2014 or pay tax penalties that will be imposed. Individual health insurance plans will be available through a state-based American Health Benefit Exchange (Kaiser Family...
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...Organizational Responsibility and Current Health Care Issues Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Health Law and Ethics Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act History “After the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010, numerous lawsuits challenging various provisions of the momentous health care reform law were filed in the federal courts. Many of those cases were dismissed, but some federal appellate courts issued decisions on the merits of the law. In November 2011, the United States Supreme Court agreed to consider several issues related to the constitutionality of the ACA arising out of two cases in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals” (The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation). Headline news featured the highly controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also referred to as Obamacare, during the week of 25-June-2012. In response to health care crises in the United States, PPACA advanced to the forefront. “[W]e must also address the crushing cost of health care. This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages. And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas. And...
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...The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is one of the most substantial reforms in Medicare since 1965. This is now considered the law of the land according to Douglas Holtz-Eaton. The PPACA portrays a “coverage first” strategy. “Sadly, a review a of the state’s experience bodes poorly for the future of national reform.” (Point/Counterpoint 177) There are two major driving factors in which could propose a threat for this reform. The first factor is it costs too much. Many decades ago, healthcare spending was at a minimum and not the focal point of American citizens. The statics show during 1970, national health expenditures were $1,300 per person and consumed 7 cents out of every national dollar, 7% of the GDP. Since the 1970, the spending per person has grown 2% more each year than income per captia. Therefore, healthcare costs have been increasing at such a high rate and will continue to threaten many decades to come. The second factor is the skyrocket of health insurance. This obviously is not mindboggling due to the fact that it is a reaction to the rapid increase of healthcare. Insurance costs have tripled over the past decade, making it hard for the average citizen to afford such outrageous premiums. As a result, less and less people are opting out of health insurance, which is no longer an option due to the new federal law making health insurance mandatory. The PPACA reform is looked upon with a “cost first” approach. This approach allows...
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...Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) What the Act Offers The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act offers many healthcare benefits to a diverse group of American citizens. However, there are a few downsides as well. The major portions of the act deal with four primary issues: 1. Increasing the health care coverage of patients with pre-existing conditions 2. Expanding access to health care insurance to over 30 million uninsured Americans 3. Expanding Medicare/Medicaid Coverage 4. Mandating Health Insurance Before PPACA was enacted insurers could discriminate against those with pre-existing medical conditions. The discrimination usually came in the form of denying coverage, striking patients from the coverage rolls when they got sick, charging higher premiums, excluding patients with certain medical conditions, imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits, and imposing yearly spending caps. All of these occurrences will have been rendered illegal by the ending effective date of 2019. The U.S. Census Bureau (2011) estimated the number of uninsured Americans to be 49.9 million in 2010. Provisions in this act are expected to expand coverage to 32 million of these uninsured people by 2019. One of the major provisions that will bring down the uninsured number is the allowance for “children” up to the age of 26 to be enrolled on their parents’ health insurance policy. The Congressional Budget Office (2009) breaks down the additional...
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...Health Services Strategic Marketing Valerie Grant Strayer University HSA 505 Dr. Gwendolyn Francavillo October 23, 2011 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as health care reform or the Patient’s Bill of Rights, was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. The law has generated much discussion and concern on the part of all stakeholders. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a federal statute that was signed into United States law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. This act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (signed into law on March 30, 2010) made up the health care reform of 2010. Determine how this Federal law will affect market-driven and non-market driven decisions. This Federal law will affect market-driven decisions by controlling costs through competition. Providers have to compete by offering better services at lower prices and finding ways to economize and make their products and services attractive. If they can’t attract customers, they go out of business. This process helps make sure that they get the best value. Americans trust the market process when they buy food, clothes, computers, and even other insurance policies. Most intuitively understand that having individuals making choices – rather than the government making choices on their behalf – is a better way to control costs and ensure that they get the quality they want. The PPACA will affect...
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...OBAMACARE: The facts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, is the president’s answer to the increasing healthcare costs. The purpose of this plan is to promise better quality healthcare at a more affordable cost to the Americans, and also regulate private insurance company to ensure Americans get more rights and protections on their healthcare. According to a 2012 study by The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), over 47 million non-elderly Americans were uninsured in 2012. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the uninsured are in the category of low-income working families. With the healthcare act being reform, there will be millions of uninsured Americans getting coverage for the first time. Additionally, Obamacare introduces Health Insurance Marketplaces (HIM)-a new organization that allows shoppers to compare Health Plans that include all new benefits, rights and protections. In another word, it also means the people can’t be denied health coverage based on health status, and can’t be dropped from coverage when they’re sick. Although millions of Americans will get access to health insurance with the healthcare act reform, the government has to create new taxes in order to get the money to help insure millions of them. The news taxes are as follow, Individual mandate fee, employer mandate fee, Advanced Premium Tax Credits, and Small Business Tax Credits. The individual...
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...Henry DeVry University The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Analysis Paper Professor: Dr. Devin December, 15th, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title: “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Analysis Paper” I. Introduction A. History/Background II. Quality, Affordable Health Care For All Americas B. Immediate Improvements in Health Care Coverage for All Americans a. Amendments to the Public Health Service b. improving coverage i. Prohibition on rescissions ii. Extension of dependent coverage III. Immediate Actions to Preserve and Expand Coverage a. Immediate access to insurance for uninsured individuals with a preexisting condition. b. Reinsurance for early retirees IV. general reform c. Fair health insurance premiums d. Guaranteed availability of coverage V. Consumer Choices and Insurance Competition Through Health Benefit Exchanges e. Affordable choices of health benefit plans f. Consumer choice VI. The Legislation The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Analysis Paper Back on March 30, 2010 president Barrack Obama signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) since it had been approved by the house on March 21, 2010. It was a great step in the direction of safeguarding healthcare for all the individuals and family of the USA regardless of whether they are insured or not. There are several types of classes of people that live...
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...Extract from Major Impacts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Date: June 20th, 2014 PP. 4 – 8 … The debate about the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has been active and prevalent for the last 6 years. Parties resistant to this new law have focused on a wide range of topics to halt its progress. For example, in 2009, Sarah Palin claimed there would be death panels formed to advise elderly on whether or not they should take their own lives. This statement, named the most outrageous term by the American Dialect Society, was born from a fundamental misunderstanding of the advance-care planning consultation reform that was eventually removed from the PPACA. In short, it would have reimbursed doctors who helped patients plan how they will be treated in their old age or if they were to become seriously ill. It must be noted that this is a service that is offered by many private insurance companies today. Another common tactic is to claim that the legislated change of current health plans will lead to greater cost from the new insurance standards now mandated by the PPACA. This argument is also fallacious: most American industries have comparable-requirements and standards that must be met, which have actually greatly increased savings, efficiency, and safety. Regulations are put in place to protect the consumer and insure the market’s competitive nature, which leads to lower prices and higher quality goods. Just some of the other major...
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...Abstract The study herein analyzes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, abbreviated as PPACA. The study relies on three scholarly journal articles that assist in deepening knowledge about PPACA. The main focus of this study is to discuss the impact of this policy decision. It mainly focuses on one positive and one negative effect that this policy has in healthcare. Introduction The recently passed PPACA increases access to various health services. For instance, it increases access by citizens to health insurance coverage and expands federalism (Chaikind, 2011). For a health policy to be fully and effectively functional, it requires creation of various health insurance policies that offer small employers and individual citizens with access to health insurance. PPACA has been able to increase access to various health insurances by ensuring that Medicaid eligibility has been expanded (Chaikind, 2011). It has also enabled extending funding for insurance covers that target children and has also subsidized premiums on private insurance. More so, this government policy, also known as Obamacare, has been able to offer cost-sharing provisions for in individuals with low income. Though most of the provisions in this policy will take effect from2014, some provisions are being phased in currently and others are already in place (Chaikind, 2011). Positive Effect of PPACA: Supporting Federalism With regard to the main positive effect of PPACA on healthcare, it is a policy...
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...How will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act change healthcare? Christine Grandfield Professor Joannah Bruscell CAP480 – Arts and Sciences Capstone December 9, 2012 Healthcare reform is taking place in this country whether we want it or not! Now that the 2012 election is over, more changes will start to take place throughout the next few years. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became a law on March 23, 2010 (Glass, 2012). The purpose of this project is to persuade any individual that will read my paper that we, as a country, will not be better off with new healthcare reform. Our president has been re-elected for a second term, healthcare reform will be enforced and made into laws, which will affect our lives, as we know it today. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will change the way healthcare organizations conduct business. There are those that say things will be better, but I do not see that happening. Healthcare costs are already rising because companies do not know what to expect. We are already paying too much for healthcare. I do not want to pay more, do you? According to Humana (2012), healthcare in the United States did not gain ground until the late 1930s when Blue Shield insurance and Baylor Hospital in Dallas created a system - now known as Blue Cross Blue Shield – in which Blue Shield established a way for “doctors to protect their interests and their payments” along with Baylor helping people pay their hospital bills...
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...Maintaining Compliance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its recent implementation into the market is transforming not only the health insurance industry, but also employers that offer health insurance. Businesses across the United States now find themselves being legally compelled to offer a larger portion of their workforce health insurance. The effects of this change leave these businesses attempting maintaining compliance under the new law and at times limit the increased costs. One of the most aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordability Care Act is what is being referred to as the Employer Mandate, the regulation that most employers must now provide health insurance to all full time employees. This mandate has greatly increased the number of individuals that are now eligible to purchase health insurance through their employer. But the Employer Mandate is not as simple as just allowing the employee to purchase health insurance from their employer, the employer must also share a portion of the cost which adds thousands sometimes millions in extra costs depending on the size of the business. Harrison (2014) states: according to the estimates, which the agency says are based on industry research and conversations with insurance experts, roughly 11 million of the 17 million individuals who have health care plans through a small employer will see their premiums increase as a result...
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...An optimistic comparison of British National Healthcare and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act During the past 5 years we have heard a great deal of rhetoric regarding socialism and healthcare as a result of the passing of the Affordable Care Act, particularly in how ACA compares to socialized medicine in England and the UK. The concerns of the people regarding socialism are important as our country is founded on capitalist principals, and to change those principals requires a complete shift in our thinking. A close look at the systems in question reveals important aspects for consideration; indeed it is important to be aware of the potential future of the ACA. While the English National Healthcare System and the Affordable Care Act have similarities, funding and administrative differences mean that while the ACA could become socialized, it does not currently fit that label. The primary concern of the American people concerning the ACA is, understandably, how this system will fit into the capitalist system that we are so very proud of and whether it will be the start of our nation moving toward complete socialism. Merriam-Webster defines socialism as “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods”. In other words, the state controls business and commerce directly rather than through governmental regulations. Social services...
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...avert a government shutdown[->0] after midnight action in the House to delay President Obama[->1]'s healthcare law[->2], with both parties trading accusations Sunday about who would be to blame for an impasse. Neither the House nor Senate[->3] planned to meet Sunday, with fewer than 36 hours left to approve a new stopgap spending measure. Instead, members of Congress[->4] fanned out to the TV networks' Sunday news shows to react to mostly party-line votes the House took overnight to again send the spending bill back to the Senate with provisions to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Republicans[->5] have insisted that such provisions be part of any deal to keep federal agencies open once the new budget year begins Tuesday. Sen. Ted Cruz[->6] (R-Texas), who has assumed a lead role among conservatives in pursuing the “defund or delay” strategy, repeatedly argued Sunday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid[->7] (D-Nev.) now stands in the way of a resolution. Cruz accused Reid of using "brute political force" to resist any changes in the healthcare law, which Cruz described as the "biggest job-killer in this country." "So far Majority Leader Harry Reid has essentially told the House of Representatives[->8] and the American people, 'Go jump in a lake,' " Cruz said on NBC's "Meet The Press." "If we have a shutdown, it will only be because when the Senate comes back, Harry Reid says, 'I refuse even to talk.' " Reid on Saturday called the Republicans' latest offer — a one-year...
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...Research Database YOU SEARCHED : Affordable Care Act research topics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 [...] Universal Health Care, A Moral Duty This 11 page research paper offers a current overview of the issues associated with the topic of universal healthcare provision and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Universal health care as a moral and ethical duty is stressed. Bibliography lists 11 sources. Minimum Wage, Healthcare Reform A 3 page research paper that covers two topics. The first half of the paper presents the history of the federally mandated minimum wage, and the second half discusses the Supreme Court's announcement that it will rule on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's required mandate for all Americans to purchase health insurance. Bibliography lists 2 sources. ESRD in NC, Access to Care for Underprivileged A 4 page research paper that examines the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and how it impacts care for underprivileged patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). Bibliography lists 2 sources. Health Care Changes Resulting from the PPACA In a paper of ten pages, the author writes about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The author of this paper considers four changes within health care as a result of the act including changes of private insurance, changes for the state regulations, the individual mandate provision, also age related coverage and preexisting conditions. There are three sources cited...
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...The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed into law in 2010 and implemented in 2014. The goal of the bill was to create affordable health insurance policies so most individuals throughout the United States are covered by a health insurer. If an individual does not comply and purchase a mandated health insurance policy, he or she is subject to a penalty tax. This tax is the greater of a flat tax of up to $695.00 for each individual or 2.5% of the household income. This expansion of federal taxation is unprecedented and dangerous. The policy is fundamentally instructing the taxpayers how, where and when to spend their money. Once the Supreme Court upheld the ruling that the fines for non-compliance are actually taxes and not penalties, the law-makers have essentially been given permission to create other similar policies that require the taxpayers to spend money in a specific manner if the legislators believe it is in the best interest of the country. There are currently few issues that would require a similar policy. However, if a similar issue arises in the future, a precedent to implement a similar law mandating that citizens spend their money in a particular manner exists. The idea that the government determines how citizens spend money is not groundbreaking. Tariffs and subsidies have instructed citizens how to spend money in this country for decades. Both tariffs and subsidies indirectly form spending. The government decides which industries are...
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