By Irma Hernandez, Mercedes Costello, Nancy Aleman, Aliza Gonzalez, Ary Nassiri
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare, is one of the largest modernized health care systems in U.S. history representing the latest reconstruction in the U.S. health care system implemented into law by president Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 (Rudnicki, et al., 2016). The ACA aimed to decrease health care costs by attempting to create universal access to affordable health insurance coverage throughout a life span.
According to Rudnicki, et al. (2016), approximately 50 million Americans under the age of 65 were uninsured due to not being able to afford the cost of health care insurance rates. Thus, as a way to address the U.S. health care burden and deficit, the ACA was enacted. As a result of the ACA policy the number of insured individuals has increased by 20 million, the increase in health care costs has declined and health care quality has improved (Arzag, 2016). An important objective of the ACA policy was to implement an agenda to critically analyze the health care dilemma the U.S. is being faced with, specifically with coverage and cost (Gorin, 2011).
In addition, the purpose of the ACA policy was to mandate hospitals and physicians to modify their practices by providing better health outcomes, decreasing cost, and improving accessibility and distribution of health care services. The policy also requires that health insurance companies accept all individuals and have consistent fees despite the individual’s preexisting conditions, age and sex (Rudnicki, et al., 2016).
The ACA aims to reduce discrimination in those who were previously denied access to coverage due to having preexisting medical conditions (Gorin, 2011). The policy limits the ability of insurance companies to exclude people based on any preexisting conditions, setting lifetime or yearly limits on health expenses, and from stopping coverage (Gorin, 2011). The ACA increase health care coverage in groups who needed care but waited to get care because of the high costs (Sommers, et al., 2013). Non-students aged 19-25 also benefited from the ACA, since before this act came into effect non-students could not remain in their parents’ plans (Sommers, et. al., 2013).
References
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Orzag, P. R. (2016) U.S. health care reform cost containment and improvement in quality.
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Rudnicki, M., Armstrong, J. H., Clark, C., Marcus, S. G., Sacks, L., Moser, A. … Public Policy and Advocacy Committee of the SSAT (2016). Expected and unexpected consequences of the Affordable Care Act: The impact on patients and surgeons — pro and con arguments.
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Sommers, B. D., Buchmueller, T., Decker, S.L., Carey, C., & Kronick, R. (2013). The
Affordable Care Act has led to significant gains in health insurance and access to care for young adults. . Health Affairs, 32(1), 165–174. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.0552.
