The Affordable Care Act (ACA)

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The Affordable Care Act, 2010, will impact several areas of health care for the citizens and legal residents of the United States. According to HHS.gov (2014), 48 million people in the US were uninsured in 2012 which is a decrease from approximately 50 million uninsured US citizens and legal residents in 2010. Four areas of the ACA that will directly impact the health care delivery system of the US are patient centered care, costs, quality and population health. Each of these areas will be discussed.
In the current health care delivery system, citizens and legal residents have experienced challenges with health care services. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will emphasize primary care in order to provide preventive services to patients. The …show more content…
Health care facilities and providers will receive payments based on the quality of service delivered rather than through the number of patients seen in a day. According to Sutlz & Young (2014), payments will be linked to quality outcomes through the establishment of “hospital Value-Based Purchasing program” which offers incentives to hospitals to improve the quality of health care services (p. 61). Sultz & Young (2014) state “hospitals will be required to publicly report performance for certain diagnoses and patients’ perceptions of care” (p. 61). Health care centers and physicians are encouraged to create “Accountable Care Organizations” in order to “coordinate Medicare beneficiary patient care and improve the quality while reducing unnecessary hospital admissions” (Sultz & Young, 2014, p. …show more content…
Citizens and legal residents of the US will be required to have health insurance. Access to health insurance may be an individually purchased plan, an employer plan or a government sponsored plan. Employers with 50 or more employees are required to provide health insurance or pay a penalty. Tax credits will be provided to small business owners, fewer than 50 employees, which offer health insurance to their employees. The Act will also provide states with option to expand Medicaid for those citizens and legal residents of the US that fall under the federal poverty guideline of 133 percent (HHS.gov, 2014). If you are like me, you may have children in college or graduate school or maybe a recent college graduate that may be unable to find employment, now those children will be able to remain on a parent health insurance plan until the age of 26. ACA also prohibits insurance companies from “imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits” (Sultz & Young, 2014, p. 58). Access to health care services has been inconsistent among racial and ethnic minority populations (HHS.gov, 2014). The US population is becoming more diverse which requires public health and health care providers to address the needs of patients in order to provide “culturally appropriate care and services” in order to improve quality (HHS.gov, 2014). Other US populations addressed in the ACA include older Americans and patients with developmental and
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