The Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly referred to as the Obama Care, represents one of the most laudable healthcare policy reforms in the US since the 1965 when Medicaid and Medicare were passed into law. It has variously referred to as a watershed in the country’s public healthcare policy since it breaks away from the previous system whereby healthcare insurance was given by private insurance companies, a situation that kept quite a number of Americans out of healthcare insurance coverage (Rosenbaum, 2011). According to this author, the ACA is slated to significantly alter the US healthcare policy landscape now and in future. It is scheduled to lower healthcare costs, improve healthcare accessibility, efficiency, outcomes, affordability and quality. After a series of lobbying among the Democrats and Republican politicians, President Obama signed the federal bill into law in 2010 in fulfilment of one of his most ambitious campaign promises. While the Act has led to a significant turnaround in the US healthcare system, a policy for further reform and improvement for even better future performance can be formulated.
The ACA has so far had and is expected to have a number of implications for the healthcare system in the US as it affects nurses, employers, healthcare insurance firms, the elderly and veterans. Moreover, the healthcare transformation policy under the legal framework of the ACA has improved the healthcare insurance coverage for a large number of Americans who were uninsured before due to high healthcare insurance costs. It significantly reduces the ability of private insurance providers to hold American citizens at ransom by declining coverage for failure to pay premiums even for very risky ailments such as cancer. Among the stakeholders affected by the policy framework under the Act, the healthcare providers, healthcare professionals, policy makers and consumers are the major beneficiaries. According to Brody and Sullivan-Marx (2012), the ACA healthcare reform policy has so far increased access to healthcare, and created more opportunities for healthcare preventive services and enhanced healthcare innovations, quality and efficiencies. They argue, however, that the future of the healthcare policy under the Act will depend largely on nurses who are the major stakeholders, being the largest members of the American healthcare workforce. These authors also point out that the individual mandate and expanded healthcare services coverage form the most important aspects of the ACA as it seeks to bring more people who were hitherto uninsured under coverage.
However, critics of the PPACA have argued that the healthcare reform policy under the Act’s impacts and implications on the US healthcare system is a short term measure and may not be sustainable in future due to the high costs of coverage. Whereas this is a genuine argument against the future of the healthcare policies under the Act, it may not hold water since the Act creates various agencies to oversee the implementation of the policies and provides the various sources of funds for each agency. Moreover, as a study by Blumenthal and Collins (2014) shows, the ACA has led to an upsurge in Medicare coverage for both the youth and the elderly thus creating a large market for public healthcare insurance. Another important provision of the Act which is expected to transform health care policy under the Act is the children’s health insurance program and the Medicaid that is now improved and strengthened. Nevertheless, a policy reform is required according to Blumenthal and Collins (2014) with regard to small businesses and employers on whom the ACA imposes certain penalties for lack of health insurance coverage or offering of inadequate health insurance covers. In future, it is projected that the number of Americans likely to continue benefiting from the PPACA healthcare reforms is likely to grow. Additionally, the future sustainability of healthcare under the Act will depend on will by the government to control the overall healthcare costs while keeping the benefits intact in order to keep premiums affordable for healthcare consumers .
References
Blumenthal, D., & Collins, S. R. (2014, July 17). Health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act-A progress report. The New English Journal of Medicine, 371, 275-285. Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMhpr1405667
Brody, A., & Sullivan-Marx, E. M. (2012). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for geriatic nurses and patients. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 38(11), 3-5. Retrieved May 11, 2016, from http://www.healio.com/nursing/journals/jgn/2012-11-38-11/%7B045952c2-c440-41b4-a1d7-ea791184c581%7D/the-patient-protection-and-affordable-care-act-implications-for-geriatric-nurses-and-patients
Rosenbaum, J. S. (2011, January-February). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for public health policy and practice. Journal of Law and the Public's Health, 126, 130-136.
