The Affordable Care Act is an inclusive healthcare policy formulated and signed into law in 2010. Mostly known as Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was implemented to strengthen creative healthcare provision techniques aimed at reducing overall healthcare expenses and develop the Medicaid program to cater for individuals living below the poverty line (Scully, 2015) . Also, the ACA (Affordable Care Act) ensures affordable insurance plans to individuals with limited income. Despite providing healthcare coverage to low-earners, the ACA has several bottlenecks that need smoothening. Studies have confirmed that full implementation of a health reform usually sees income changes in approximately 14 million beneficiaries that require a shift in coverage in a given period (Griffiths et al., 2016) . Also, more than 7 million beneficiaries are likely to change their coverage more than once, hence creating severe consequences for both health and financial statuses (Griffiths et al., 2016) . Due to such reasons, policies aimed at guaranteeing one year of continuous eligibility to everyone who qualifies for the program should be implemented to ensure that individuals are not disqualified due to unforeseen income changes, hence strengthening the affordable care act, as discussed in this proposal.
Reinforcing the Affordable Care Act
A healthcare reform aimed at the reinforcement of the Affordable Care Act through prolonging eligibility to 12 months may enable the preservation of physicians-patients relationships and ensure the continuity of care. This policy aims explicitly at supporting the impacts of healthcare plans designed for Medicaid program recipients and offering quality, coordinated, and consistent care. A report by the George Washington University revealed that continuous eligibility would facilitate a comprehensive evaluation of the quality and effectiveness of the plan’s provisions while guiding development strategies (Oerther et al., 2018) . Moreover, in addition to compulsory quality reporting necessities for managed care, continuous eligibility can be utilized by legislators in their quest to secure the public investments represented by the ACA. Past surveys revealed that terminating coverage as a result of income changes cause bloats in the system that subsequently leads to reduced quality of care and waste. Congress had previously allowed willing states to offer continuous eligibility for children. However, only half the states agreed to the new terms. As a result, an estimated 19 million children are not covered under the legislation. The resulting gap in coverage is the new drive for this one-year uninterrupted eligibility to the elderly, children, low-earning individuals, and patients covered by Medicaid. Prolonging the eligibility period is a reasonable strategy that will not only aid in eliminating challenges to coverage but also enhance administrative efficiency (Oerther et al., 2018) . People who use Medicaid coverage are just as deserving as those benefiting from other coverage and should have an assurance that their coverage will provide the assistance they need when the time comes.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Specifically, this policy proposal seeks to “guarantee a legally supported right to extended eligibility and increased access to health care services through reducing costs of coverage.” Past judicial decisions have challenged the age-long right of covered individuals to seek legal support in instances where the states do not comply with national coverage requirements (Scully, 2015) . In addition to formulating related regulations, the Congress must clarify perpetual access rights for Medicaid providers and beneficiaries in federal and state courts to ensure that everyone remains covered despite changes in income levels.
Implementation Plan
In implementing the proposed policy, both federal and state governments should reduce the number of insurance marketplaces available to reduce the complexity of the healthcare system. The consolidated insurance marketplaces should provide fair-priced plans that accommodate disabled people, the elderly, and low-earners among other marginalized populations (Oerther et al., 2018) . Among the most common challenges of health coverage are the uncoordinated and ineffectively managed funding streams that are controlled by diverse state government and federal institutions with conflicting regulatory requirements, managerial organizations, objectives, and political perceptions.
The implementation process will first incorporate patient education programs and policies to ensure the intended people are equipped with the necessary knowledge regarding their health coverage plans (Oerther et al., 2018) . Beneficiaries’ education should be done using online social platforms, educational websites, and mass media. Active participation of influential political figures should also be encouraged to enable citizens to appreciate the significance of the issue to their well-being and the country’s stability. The social platforms will also be used to create a coordination system to enhance decision-making and problem-solving efforts, with emphasis made on full involvement (Oerther et al., 2018) . Secondly, the message will be defined in explicit terms to demonstrate its degree of receptiveness and considerations of the existing gaps in healthcare coverage.
In this case, successful lobbying and passage will depend on in-person meeting with legislators to explain ambiguous terms and expectations. During such sessions, it is vital to provide legislatures with specific goals and objectives for a comprehensive understanding. Since policymakers and legislators usually run tight schedules, an indefinite policy proposal may only get a rejection. Some influential individuals who will be involved in this policy change include nurse leaders and representatives, health facility administrators, and county representatives. After passage, a detailed presentation of the bill, its requirements in terms of human and financial resources, and an agreement form will be provided to the task team since these individuals have the power to influence the complete execution of the law (Scully, 2015) . Despite not voting in the county representatives that I intend to involve in the lobbying process, I would consider holding informative meetings and prove their suitability to carry out public mandates.
References
Griffiths, P., Ball, J., Drennan, J., Dall’Ora, C., Jones, J., Maruotti, A., ... & Simon, M. (2016). Nurse staffing and patient outcomes: strengths and limitations of the evidence to inform policy and practice. A review and discussion paper based on evidence reviewed for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Safe Staffing guideline development. International journal of nursing studies , 63 , 213-225.
Oerther, S., Hallowell, S., Rossiter, A., & Gross, D. (2018). The American Academy of Nursing Jonas Policy Scholars Program: Mentoring Future Nurse Leaders to Advance Health Policy. Journal of advanced nursing .
Scully, N. J. (2015). Leadership in nursing: The importance of recognising inherent values and attributes to secure a positive future for the profession. Collegian , 22 (4), 439-444.
