Discussion Posts of The Affordable Care Act.
Instruction
Instructions: For this discussion you need to review the module chapters, and then read and watch the following resources discussing the build up and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. You will then create a response to the following question for your response post. Question: A fundamental aim of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to ensure that every American can share in the promise of quality health care. Do you think this has been accomplished with the ACA, why or why not? Provide support from the sources to support your answer. Your post must be substantial (3 paragraphs at least,) professionally presented, Including internal citations and references for your sources. Then you will respond to at least three of your classmates’ posts in a substantial response The Record- The While House, Barack Obama The aim was simple: That every American could share in the promise of quality health care. The groundwork was laid over nearly 100 years: Other administrations — from Presidents Truman to Nixon to Clinton —have tried and failed to immortalize this principal into American law. Then, after nearly a century of work, an improbable piece of legislation with a lot of heart behind it ended its journey on the President’s desk on March 23, 2010. Since then, health reform in America has been the law of the land and after more than five years under this law 16.4 million Americans have gained health coverage. 129 million people who could have otherwise been denied or faced discrimination now have access to coverage. Health care prices have risen at the slowest rate in nearly 50 years. And it will live on as a legacy achievement not just of this administration, but of all those who fought for it for so many years. Improving Health for All Americans President Obama promised that he would make quality, affordable health care not a privilege, but a right. After nearly 100 years of talk, and decades of trying by presidents of both parties, that’s exactly what he did. Today, 20 million more adults gained access to health coverage. We’ve driven the uninsured rate below 10 percent — the lowest level since we started keeping records — and built stronger, healthier communities through advancements in public health, science, and innovation. Data shows that the private insurance spending per enrollee was 6.5% in 2000 to 2005, was 3.4% from 2005 to 2010, and 1.5% from 2010 to 2015. The data also shows that the uninsured rate in 2010 was 16% and in 2016 was 8.9%. For more information, and to watch the short video, visit: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-record/health-care
Discussion
Affordable care act enacted by President Obama aimed at making health insurance available and accessible to people. The act lowered the health care costs of people who were in the federal poverty level. The act was to expand the Medicaid programs whose goal was to cover adults in the federal poverty level (Uberoi, 2016). In America, very few people are above the federal poverty line; therefore, Former President Barrack Obama launched a universal coverage health program that had to cover all people within and below the federal poverty line. When the act was launched, it was to support medical delivery care that could generally lower costs of health care.
The Affordable Care Act has accomplished its goal of expanding the Medicaid program for poor people. The expansion of the program has lead to an improvement in health care and financial security. Kentucky and Arkansas adopted the program, and there was an increase in personal check-ups, excellent health, and getting care for chronic conditions due to low costs (Blumenthal, 2014). The program has to lead to a decrease in skips medications due to high costs, depression, and trouble paying hospital bills.
However, states like Texas, who did not expand the program, had more non-expansion rates compared to expansion rates, which had improved (Courtemanche, 2017). Since the execution of Obama Care, the federal poverty line had decreased from 23% of 100%FPL in 2013 to 16% in 2016. From this analysis, it is evident that the ACA has accomplished its mission of providing quality health care that is of low cost, thus increasing the probability of people receiving quality medical care.
References
Blumenthal, D., & Collins, S. R. (2014). Health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act—a progress report.
Courtemanche, C., Marton, J., Ukert, B., Yelowitz, A., & Zapata, D. (2017). Early impacts of the Affordable Care Act on health insurance coverage in Medicaid expansion and non‐expansion states. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 36(1), 178-210..
Uberoi, N., Finegold, K., & Gee, E. (2016). Health insurance coverage and the Affordable Care Act, 2010-2016. Washington (DC): Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.