Introduction
Healthcare reform began long ago in the United States and in 2010, the recent outcome was the two Federal Statutes which were enacted these included the Patient Protection Act and also the Affordable Care Act that was signed on the third of March 2010 as well as the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 which was used in the amendment of the PPAC and later on came to be law on 30th of March (Stolberg,19).
President Barack Obama enacted the PPAC Act in 2010 and the Act provided the introduction of a well organized system that the health insurance was to stand for. It had reforms which sought to eliminate mal practices of companies dealing with insurance. The Democratic Party of which Obama belongs to fully and solidly supports the amendments of the 2010 legislation for its policy is ensuring that all the American citizens have access to health insurance. This means that the employers are responsible for the health insurance of their respective workers. In fact Obama himself in one of his state address in 2009 emphasized the need of making Health care a right of every American citizen.
Provisions of the Obama Health Care Program.
The president’s health care program had various important provisions which were to shape and form the plan. There is the New Federal Insurance Regulation. In this provision, there is the new federal insurance regulatory board whose mandate is to review rate increases and go on as far as blocking those ones which it perceives to be not justifiable (Pear et. al, A1). Thus the president’s administration sought to capitalize on the attention of exorbitant and unpredictable increases. In most places the State insurance commissioners are empowered to do it but to ensure strengthening of the rate regulation then a new federal authority is needed.
Secondly, there is the provision on Increasing Medicaid and reducing insurance. Through Obama’s Health care plan, Medicaid funding would be increased for all the American states hence, states with already expanded Medicaid programs will receive extra funding. This includes increasing the Medicaid accessible to 133% as required by the federal poverty level for the people of America. The provision also seeks to bar insurers from putting in place the annual coverage caps while at the same time granting and facilitating support for medical research. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under expansion of Medicaid also support the mental health parity. This is to mean that there will be no discrimination in handling of the mental illnesses with the physical ones; they will be treated equally (Fristcher, 9).
The healthcare plan also advocates for guaranteed issue, rating of the community, and ensuring individual mandate. Insurers by the year 2014 will not be able to deny sickly applicants or enforce high premiums conditions. In the recent past, insurers only accepted those people they deemed healthy and who could not fall sick easily since they were deemed more profitable by the insurers. However, with the enactment of the Obama Health care plan, even those sicker citizens seeking for insurance will have an opportunity to access it. Uninsured individuals will be required by the law commencing from 2014 to buy government approved health insurance. This is meant to cut down the 19% uninsured people in 2010 to a lesser 8% in 2016. On the issue of the effectiveness of the health insurance as per the 2010 Act, insurers will cover more costs with at least 80% facilitating health care. Between 2010 and 2011, the Act proposes that young adults should be retained on their parents’ health plans until they attain the age of 26years. Thus, it was passed that employers and companies who refuse to give coverage and having more than 50 workers are to face $2,000 fine per each employee.
Changes that can be made in the Health Bill
There is need for the US government to ensure that there is a balance in doctor supply and demand. This can be done by establishing a more income equality initiative among the professionals in the medical field through adjustment of the reimbursement rates thus lowering of the medical care costs. Additionally, health care providers can be rewarded through what is called bundled payments. This means that health workers in hospitals in a particular area or a town will be paid depending on their outcomes as per their areas are concerned rather than payment being dependent on the service provided. Automatically this means that the areas with best outcomes in terms of services will be entitled to get more. It is argued that particular system enables doctors and other medical practitioners to provide better services at a cheaper cost in comparison with the fee for service basis.
The reimbursement system of insurance companies should also be tackled by the government to make the system work best when it comes to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. An universal health-care system should be instituted in order to emphasize prevention. This may free up and secure dollars that can in turn be used to reimburse doctors a little bit more.
Conclusion.
Despite the economy being top most on the minds of the Americans, the president once hinted that healthcare was one issue which couldn’t be avoided. The most outstanding aspect in the provisions of the Obama health plan was the issue of barring insurance companies from cancelling policies for those who fall sick. His healthcare plan has helped a great deal of the American citizens to acquire health insurance cover at large.
Works cited:
Pear, Robert and Herszenhorn, David. “Obama hails vote on health care as answering ‘the call
of history.” The New York Times. 21 Mar. 2010. Web.
Reid, T.R. The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health
Care. New York: Penguin Books. 2009. Print.
Stolberg G. et al. "Obama signs health care overhaul bill with a flourish." The New York
Times: 24 Oct. 2010. Web
