The Affordable Care Act (ACA), is a health care reform legislation that was passed by the Congress and signed into law in the year 2010 by the former US president Barack Obama. The legislation has had a huge impact on the healthcare system and delivery in the United Stated. Not only has the Act reduced the number of uninsured Americans from 16% in 2010 to 9.1% in 2015 (Obama, 2016) but also has brought down the costs of receiving proper healthcare which had escalated in the last decade (Sasson, 2012). The healthcare reform shifted the focus from the reimbursement for Fee for service to other alternative methods of payments has helped bring costs down. The new law which modified payment rates made to institutions that provide Medicare services to align them to actual treatment costs has made private payment costs rates go down considerably (Obama, 2016).
Under the ACA, all individuals in the country are required to purchase health insurance failure to which, they will have to pay penalties with the poor citizens getting assistance in form of Medicaid. This provision has led to a broader coverage of health insurance. The Act also requires all companies that have more than 50 employees to provide a health insurance for their employees. People who already had health insurance have had their coverage increased by increasing the number of services that could be covered. The coverage now includes services such as women preventive services (Simmons et al., 2016; ACA, 2010) mental health, maternity, and substance disorders that were not covered for small businesses and individuals (Obama, 2016). These reforms have shown an improvement in America’s healthcare system in such a short time. This means that there is potential to reach the maximum effect in the next few years, delivering the best healthcare system for the American citizens.
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References
Obama, B. (2016). United States Health Care Reform Progress to Date and Next Steps. Jama Vol 316(5), 525-532. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.9797
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010).
Sasson, C. (2012). The Changing Landscape of America’s Health Care System and the Value of Emergency Medicine. Wiley Online Library https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2012.1446.x
Simmons, A., Taylor, J., Yabroff, R., Fnegold, K., Chappel, E., & Gee, E. (2016). The Affordable Care Act: promoting better health for women. Office of the Assistance Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, US Department of Health and Human Services. https://aspe.hhs.gov/pdf-report/affordable-care-act-promoting-better-health-women
