Affordable Care Act

Introduction2

Discussion3

Affordable Care Act3

Impact on Patients4

Impact on Services/ Programs4

Management of Finances under ACO5

Impact on Physicians5

Public Response6

Conclusion6

References8

Affordable Care Act

Introduction

On March 23, 2010, U.S. President Barak Obama signed the act deeply needed by the country's residents. The main parts of the act, Patient Protection and Affordable Care, will take effect on January 01, 2014 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The weak health care system of U.S. can be clearly judged from various studies conducted at different time frames. According to U. S. Census Bureau, following is the estimate of Americans region wise who are uninsured:

South

22 million

West

13 million

Midwest

8.7 million

Northeast

6.7 million

Source: Affordable Care Act: Your economic future still up for debate. Medical Economics http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com

Despite the formulation of Medicare, only two thirds of Americans have access to primary care. The key finding is that almost three fourth of Americans face difficulty in getting appointments or off hours care which pressurizes them to seek care by going to an emergency (The Commonwealth Fund, 2008). Many small scale business firms do not cover their employees. Due to lower income, they find it hard to afford insurance plans. ACA expects to be of high value and benefits for both patients as they no longer have to suffer from lengthy administrative processes of hospitals and thus the access to primary care services will increase. Communication of relevant and correct information of patients is maintained. The need of health care reforms becomes imperative for Americans with chronic diseases. According to an estimate in 2009, 145 million people who constitute almost 50% of American population, suffer from chronic conditions and need ongoing care. These patients are most recurrent users of health care services, and 84% of overall health care spending is utilized by these patients. However, the main reason of this exorbitant spending remains the poor guidance and misinformation. The patient, in turn, tends to utilize unnecessary medical service and thus end up paying higher costs (Anderson, 2010).

Discussion

Affordable Care Act

The Act is divided into 10 titles (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013) stated below:

Quality and Affordable Care

Public Programs' Role

Quality and Efficiency improvement

Prevention of Chronic Disease

Health Care Workforce

Transparency and Program Integrity

Innovative Medical Therapies improvement

Community Support Services

Revenue Provisions

Reauthorization of the Improvement Act

Impact on Patients

The main goal of this Act is to make medical care assessable to every American under a mandate to buy insurance or pay a penalty. The costs to insure everyone is to be covered with collecting payments from healthy consumers. This law proposes the low income individuals to get tax credits in order to buy insurance. Thus, the people who cannot afford to buy private insurance plans or if employers are not offering any coverage to employees will approach new state insurance exchanges. Health insurance exchanges will serve as regulated marketplaces, which will offer subsidy to residents with income of 100-400% of the poverty level. ACA involves a potential effect on many components such as health insurance dealers, small scale businesses or large corporations. Insurers propose to provide insurance coverage to the sick. They will also be monitored for charging fixed ...