Impact of the Affordable Care Act Essay Example for Free

Impact of the Affordable C ar Act EssayThe Affordable C are Act (ACA) was sign into law by President Barack Obama early in 2010. The ACA was introduced into law to help bring home the bacon access to affordable and quality health redress to more than Americans than forever before. The goal was to reduce health sustainment cost for individuals and government. It has allowed more adults to be eligible for Medicaid by increasing income eligibility to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). (Milstead, 2013) However, by ruling of the Supreme Court in June of 2012, states had the option to implement the elaboration of Medicaid eligibility to cover more low-income adults. As of January 2014, conglutination Carolina (NC) was one of the states that chose not to implement the expansion of Medicaid making the eligibility for Medicaid for low-income adults very limited. How does this affect the population, economy, cost, and quality of health care?North Carolinas Right to Re fuseAccording to Knickman and Kovner (2011, p. 110), the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives states the primary accountability for public health. Medicaid is administered and overseen by each state but governed by various federal guidelines with the federal government contributing 50%-78% of its costs. (2011) After long cut into and review of advant ripens and disadvantages to implementing the new laws, the North Carolinas government elected not to adopt the new legislation.Caroll (2013) indicated the decision was based on NCs current Medicaid system, indicating that is was miserable and needing to be revised. There was concern the ACA would cause an increase in taxpayers contribution due to the long term costs. As of September 2014, there are 21 states that are following North Carolinas decision not to adopt the new health care reform. This would leave millions of Americans that would be eligible for Medicaid beneath the ACA without access to health care.(StateReforum , 2014)Impact on the PopulationOne of the initiatives of the ACA was to show more than 32 million uninsured Americans with insurance coverage. This was to be done by increasing the FPL to 138 percent and lifting or altering certain limitations for eligibility to Medicaid. This meant that all Americans whose income was at or below the FPL would be eligible for Medicaid. For example, an unemployed, single, 26-year-old male without any other income would be eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid would no longer be limited to specific categories such as the disabled, children and their parents, or pregnant women whose income was below the FPL.North Carolinas current Medicaid program eligibility for non-disabled adults is limited to parents with incomes below 43% of poverty, or about $10,000 a year for a family of four, and adults without dependent children remain ineligible regard little of their income (How Will the Uninsured, 2014). Currently, there are over 319,000 uninsured adults in NC that are not eligible for Medicaid, by the current NC guidelines, which would be eligible under the Affordable Care Act. This can fall out to increased health care costs and weighs heavily on the economy. Who is to take up the slack?Economic Effects of Doing NothingDorgan (2009), Chairman of the democratic insurance Committee, indicates that the current health care system in NC has led to higher health care costs, reduced access to care, and inconsistent quality of care. The down-to-earth Domestic Product in 2013 for North Carolina, based on millions of dollars spent, was $471,365 million, an increase of over $50,000 million since 2010. (Department of Labor and Workforce, 2013) In 2013, North Carolinas State attendant Beth Wood indicated that the states Medicaid program had gone over budget for the past three years, costing taxpayers about $1.2 billion. (Hoban, 2013) This leaves businesses and the working population to cover health care costs by paying higher taxes.With unemploy ment soaring over the last go, and North Carolina having one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States (Hoban, 2013), less is paying(a) into taxes. This leads to less to cover health care costs. The Affordable Care Act was implemented to decrease the costs of health care for all Americans. According to the discolour House website (2014) the Congressional Budget Office found that healthinsurance reform will reduce the deficit by $210 billion in this decade and by more than $1 trillion over the following 10 years. A family of four would save as more as $2,300 on their premiums in 2014 compared to what they would shake off paid without reform. Will the decreased costs affect the quality of care being provided?Quality of CareThe implementation of the ACA will guide a higher standard for quality of care. The ACA promotes the use of responsible care organizations (ACO), which is a type of managed care that includes at least primary physicians, specialists, and hospital s that would be held accountable for the quality of care provided. (Kovener and Knickman, 2011, p. 196) The ACA works to move away from a fee-for-service overture to an accountable care organization (ACO) model that would incorporate a coordinated approach to provide high quality of care. This type of system rewards physicians and health care facilities through how they are paid for the quality of care they provide.The ACA reforms the way health care is delivered to the population by creating high-performing organizations of physicians and hospitals that use systems of care and information technology to prevent illness, improve access to care, improve safety, and coordinate services (What is an Accountable Care, 2011) making them more accountable for the care they provide. Incentives are provided to physicians and healthcare organizations that have shown they can provide quality care and improve patient satisfaction.Ethical ImplicationsHow can the government provide quality health care to so many without sacrificing the rights of a few? The ACA was enacted to help provide health care to more adults between the ages of 19-64 years of age that otherwise would not have access to or afford health care. According to Sorrell (2012), Americans want a health care system that will provide quality care, have freedom of choice, be affordable, and allow the costs to be shared among all. There is worry the ACO will lead to cost-shifting. Medicare and Medicaid pay much less for reimbursement for health care treatment. To re-coop their costs, hospitals and health care providers participate in the unethical practice of shifting these losses to patients with insurance by charging more for the same services. indemnification companies then shift thesecosts to members by increasing their premiums and out-of-pocket costs.With such an increase in the number of people eligible for Medicaid, providers will be receiving much less for the services they provide. Another concern is for the Americans that do not qualify for Medicaid. Income levels can qualify some for decrease in premiums for health insurance from hush-hush companies. However, there will be those that do not qualify in either category and do not have access to health insurance through their employer and cannot afford the high premiums of private insurance. The new health reform requires those that do not have some type of health insurance to have to pay penalties for not having insurance.ConclusionThe Affordable Care Act was developed to provide health care to an additional 32 million Americans with the goal of reduce health care costs. Even though there are millions that will now have access to health care, there will be millions that do not qualify for the programs and will remain uninsured. There is much concern and debate the ACA with hurt the economy, increase health care costs, and add to the United States deficit. North Carolina, along with 21 other states, have chosen not to adopt the ne w law and either continue with current guidelines or choose to structure their current health care policies. Concerns also arise about causing a decrease in quality of health care provided. The development of ACOs through the ACA implies that quality of health care will be improved. However, there is question that ACOs will lead to cost-shifting to re-coop lost costs from the influx of Americans now eligible for Medicaid and Medicare.ReferencesCaroll, B. (2013). North Carolina Thumbs its Nose at Obamacare. Retrieved from http//watchdogwire.com/northcarolina/2013/02/12/north-carolina-thumbs-its-nose-at-obamacare/ Dorgan, B. (2009). Health Care Reform The Cost of Doing Nothing in North Carolina. Democratic Policy Committee. Retrieved from http//www.dpc.senate.gov/docs/states-fs-111-1-87/nc.pdf Hoban, R. (April, 2013). Cost of Care How Broken is NC Medicaid?. North Carolina Health News. Retrieved from http//www.northcarolinahealthnews.org/2013/04/15/how-broken-is-nc-medicaid/