Drawing from the vision of Healthy People 2020, ensuring a society where all people live long, healthy lives, health policies/legislation would be required to be primarily developed around such grounds. The issue with ensuring all people live long and healthy lives stems from the high cost of healthcare in the United States as it is reported to have one of the most costly healthcare systems globally (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). The United States has a population of over 313,395,400, 13% of which are uninsured in as far as health care is concerned. Due to the high cost of healthcare in the United States, many Americans are unable to afford proper healthcare since they cannot necessarily pay for quality health care services within America’s health care system and insurance plans.
As at 2010, the total amount of money spent in health care was estimated at $2,505,800,000,000, which is a rather high amount of money, thus depicting the need to make health care less expensive and more accessible to every American (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). Various health care plans such as Medicare and Medicaid have been considered as some of the areas of the target by health policies and regulation in a bid to improve the general health of Americans in the United States. However, due to the high cost of health care, there was the need to introduce and implement policies/legislation that would help improve the chances and ability for Americans to access affordable, yet quality health such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
On the 23rd of March 2010, former President Barack Obama signed into law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare after it was passed on the 21st March, 2010. The legislation is among the current health policies/legislation that has helped many Americans, despite its current challenges. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law and implemented in a bid to improve health care for Americans by expanding health coverage to every American, while still curbing the high cost and spending in the event of seeking health care services. Therefore, the health policy/legislation that is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act sought to improve health care by making it less expansive by making it affordable to all Americans. Hence, the problem that the legislation (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) sought to address was, the high cost of healthcare in the United States, and with the population being all Americans (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). However, the legislation specifically targeted a specific area of health care, health insurance coverage, which would facilitate the making of health care more affordable to all Americans.
How the Policy Is Intended For a Specific Population, Program or Organization
The vision of Healthy People 2020 is to ensure a society in which all individuals live long, healthy lives. Therefore, for the same to happen, health policies/legislation should be developed with the aim of targeting as much of the American population as possible regarding improving their access to and affordability of healthcare (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). Basing its foundation on the costly nature of health care in the united states, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law and implemented in a bid to make health care more affordable for Americans. However, the legislation’s reforms had a primary implication on the insurance industry, which saw gradually, the law’s reforms being implemented since 2010.
Therefore, by expanding insurance coverage, it would enable more than the over 86% percent of Americans to be able to comfortably afford health care, as well as increase the chances of the uninsured population to be able to get health care coverage as well. The 2010 legislation, required all Americans to get insurance covers about their health care services, as the health policy would make health care less costly and more accessible. The reforms of the health policy/legislation that is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would enable improved health care access and lower the cost of healthcare, thus inclusivity concerning the American population (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). However, opponents of the legislation were of the opinion that it would only reduce the quality of healthcare as well as increase the cost of health care, especially among taxpayers.
Most American workers were required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to get a health insurance cover, as well as for employers to offer the same. Owing to the complexity and size of the healthcare industry, the policy’s reforms had been deemed as having associated uncertainties, primarily since the healthcare industry accounts for one-six of the nation’s expenditure (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). Nevertheless, the fact that the legislation aimed at including all Americans by expanding insurance coverage means that it sought to solve the healthcare problem for a more significant percentage of Americans, thus addressing the issue of expensive healthcare. The insurance industry can hence be deemed the organization influenced by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with the American people with healthcare insurance being the specific population targeted by the program of improving accessibility and affordability of healthcare in America.
Specific Legislators Involved In the Policy Development and Dissemination
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act involved various legislators, who contributed towards development, enactment, and dissemination. For instance, House Democrats in July 2009 introduced the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which was the precursor to the Affordable Care Act. On November 7, 2009, the house of Democrats passed the bill after it garnered 219 votes from the Democrats and one from Rep. Joseph Cao, who produced the only Republican vote. Those who were against the bill thus voted in opposition to it consisted of 39 Democrats and 176 Republicans (Landmark: The inside story of America's new health care law and what it means for us all. 2010). However, on the 24th of December 2009, the Senate passed its version of the same bill in a 60-39 vote turns out. The results of the ballots were characterized by all the Democrats voting in favor of the bill whereas all the Republicans except for Senator Jim Bunning, who was not present for the voting process, voting against it in a bid to oppose the bill.
However, in January 2010, after winning a special election to fill late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat, Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts was able to facilitate the passing of the bill. This is because in the event the House did not agree to the Senate’s version of the bill, a committee would be formed consisting of members from both the Senate and the house. The committee was mandated with the resolution of the difference of the Senate’s version of the bill and that of the House, which would require a new bill to be formulated and receive another vote within the Senate (Landmark: The inside story of America's new health care law and what it means for us all. 2010). However, with Brown’s election, the Senate Democrats could not amass the 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican obstruction on the new bill.
As a result, a majority of the members of the House Democrats agreed to pass the Senate version of the bill under one condition. The condition was that any subsequent changes to the bill that were budget-related would be made via the reconciliation process. The condition was likely arrived upon based on the fact that, reconciliation bills only required 50 senate votes and were not subject to any form of filibuster. On March 21, 2010, however, the House passed the Senate bill, where 178 House Republicans alongside 34 Democrats opposed the bill, but 219 Democrats supported it, thus voting for the bill. It was on March 23, 2010, that former President Obama signed the Senate bill as well as the reconciliation bill seven days later (Landmark: The inside story of America's new health care law and what it means for us all. 2010). The two bills together became to be known as the Patient Protection, and Affordable Care Act also referred to as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act.
Role of the APRN in Assisting With the Policy or Refuting the Policy
APRN have contributed positively as well as negatively to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Regarding the positive contribution, APRN has supported the implementation of the policy since it promotes better practices and new payment methods for health caregivers such as practicing nurses that have been received well (Hoyt & Proehl, 2012). However, others argue, thus refute the policy, by claiming that the patient-healthcare provider ratio is off balance owing to the expansion of insurance covered, thus overwhelming the health care sector and its employees in general.
How The Policy Influences Clinical Practice and Is Used To Promote Best Outcomes
The policy has over time improved clinical practice as it requires health care providers to ensure quality health care to patients in need of medical attention. Similarly, the policy has guaranteed new practices have been adopted, as well as new payment methods for caregivers in healthcare, thus improving the practice. Improving the performance and practices of health caregivers have enabled the provision of effective treatment to patients, hence treatment to improve their health conditions, which promotes the best outcome (Lathrop, & Hodnicki, 2014). Similarly, the conditions of clinical practice have been improved by making healthcare more accessible and affordable, thus extending the services patients receive from health care providers, hence improved health conditions and statuses of Americans.
How the Policy Can Be Used By the Interprofessional Team to Ensure Coordinated and Comprehensive Care for the Specific Population
The insurance industry can implement the policy by introducing health insurance covers between employee and their employers to increase the number of Americas who can access quality health care. Similarly, insurance companies and health care providers can collaborate in the establishment of the covers necessary to patient needs to ensure all Americans obtain and afford health care.
Conclusion
The high cost of healthcare in the United States required the development and implementation of health policies and legislation that would address the same, thus the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Shaw, Asomugha, Conway, & Rein, 2014). The bill required all Americans to get health insurance covers as well as employers to provide the same. Upon the House’s passing of the Senate’s version of the bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed into law by Obama on March 23, 2010. The legislation addressed the issue of high cost of healthcare in the United States by expanding insurance coverage, hence making healthcare affordable and accessible to more Americans.
References
Hoyt, K. S., & Proehl, J. A. (2012). Affordable Care Act: Implications for APRNs. Advanced emergency nursing journal , 34 (4), 287-289.
Landmark: The inside story of America's new health care law and what it means for us all . (2010). New York: Public Affairs.
Lathrop, B., & Hodnicki, D. R. (2014). The Affordable Care Act: Primary care and the doctor of nursing practice nurse. Online journal of issues in nursing , 19 (2).
Shaw, F. E., Asomugha, C. N., Conway, P. H., & Rein, A. S. (2014). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: opportunities for prevention and public health. The Lancet , 384 (9937), 75-82.
