Introduction
Healthcare challenges are queries that health care professionals face in the maintenance and restoration of health. Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a United States statute that aims at reducing the cost of health and increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance. United States politicians implement policies of the health care system without involving health care professionals (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2009). ACA is facing the challenge of mending the broken health care system to have complete reforms that will assure future generations enjoy quality health and wellbeing (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014).
Americans often seek medical care outside the individual’s health plan network which leads to a high number of patients in hospitals, hence creating doubts on the reliability of the quality of healthcare. Many Americans who had prior health insurance are reluctant to embrace the ACA expansion since they risk a penalty of losing the current insurance funds (Huntington, Covington, Center, Covington, & Manchikanti, 2011).
ACA health care implementation faces challenges from the political leaders of opposition claiming that buying health insurance is a conservative idea. The hospitals are taking longer to adapt to the new payment system of ACA, and health insurance has still not attained stable risk pools. ACA faces negative reactions from the media and politicians, especially after the implementation of health care exchanges through private health care providers (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014).
The fragility of the system is a major challenge of the implementation of ACA due to its high frequency of breakdown. A high number of clients in hospitals overworks the healthcare providers leading to patient dissatisfaction, and low-quality services (Huntington et al., 2011).
Healthcare Benefits
Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides access to care and healthcare improvement. President Barack Obama signed ACA into law to promote the healthcare and wellness of American citizens. The Americans enjoy the efficiency in healthcare and cost reduction in seeking medications (Huntington et al., 2011). Low-income earners have access to quality health care regardless of pre-existing health conditions with minimum and affordable health standards.
Blumenthal and Collins (2014), support the ACA offer of federal subsidies for people with an income level between one-hundred percent and four-hundred percent after the purchase of the insurance through the exchange. Americans use bundled electronic Medicare payment that enhances the efficiency of the healthcare delivery system (Huntington et al., 2011).
ACA benefits the government and private insurance companies through the imposition of health care coverage on American citizens. The health insurance companies receive a boost from ACA through the initiation of community rating, and individual mandate (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014).
Bonuses and penalties are the regulatory standards the government uses to embrace ACA efficiently. The regulatory standards decrease the number of uninsured individuals and improve health performance (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014). Price regulation by ACA prevents health insurance companies from exploiting the poor, and the sick who cannot access affordable premiums. Through ACA implementation, Americans are benefiting from administrative efficiency and increasing the number of healthy policyholders (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2009).
Impact of Affordable Care Act on the healthcare economy
Affordable Care Act (ACA) encourages the introduction of many health insurance covers that offer competitive rates, regulations, and incentives toward delivering quality health care. The American economy is increasing its revenue due to the high number of people enrolling in health insurance exchanges (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014).
ACA increases insurance plans through coverage expansion. Additionally, ACA is increasing the number of employees due to the rise in the number of paperwork, administrative personnel, and financial investors. The government revenue is enlarged through the buying of health insurance plans and the expansion of insurance companies.
According to Kruger (2009), the federal government knew its economy would increase after the introduction of ACA. Web site developers are also generating revenues through the creation of interactive interfaces for purchasing health insurance plans (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014).
The introduction of insurance exchanges creates a market for private insurance companies, hence motivating entrepreneurs towards the expansion of the health services, and insurance plans (Huntington et al., 2011). Individuals under ACA cannot drop their insurance covers because they risk being fined; people continue to pay the premiums resulting in the rise of the American economy.
The American economy has improved after the introduction of ACA due to the diversity of the individual mandates that allow the insurance companies to expand the risk pool to spread the cost over a sustainable period.
Radio and television make advertisements on the benefits of the ACA, in return, boosting the new health care program and creating a market overseas, especially in India. The ACA subsidies reduce the poverty level among Americans and encourage innovative ideas toward economic development. Currently, the healthcare providers are renovating the existing facilities and increasing their efficiency in minimizing expenses due to limited profit margin (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2009).
Impact of Affordable Care Act on health facilities
ACA introduces waivers to the States that want to set up alternative health systems. The waivers will allow private entrepreneurs to expand on the health facilities in different States leading to the creation of healthcare diversity. The healthcare facilities are facing an influx of patients, which results in a shortage of workers, and strain on the available resources. Healthcare facilities benefit from ACA since they receive subsidized prices on drugs from pharmaceutical companies (Kruger, 2009).
The federal government improves healthcare facilities and makes them more efficient to handle the increasing number of insured clients. The health care law advocates for innovation, and the development of programs that will lead to cost reduction in health care services (Huntington et al., 2011).
ACA facilitates little advancement in infrastructure development, and equipment installation in hospitals (Nickitas, Middaugh & Aries, 2009). The hospitals that are better equipped experienced a great rise after the implementation of ACA because of the full utilization of the available resources. To reduce overburdening of the available health facilities, the federal government finances public health education program that will help prevent many communicable diseases that healthcare practitioners face daily (Blumenthal & Collins, 2014).
References
Blumenthal, D., & Collins, S. R. (2014). Health Care Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act—A Progress Report. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(3), 275-281.
Huntington, W. V., Covington, L. A., Center, P. P., Covington, L. A., & Manchikanti, L. (2011). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Reforming the health care reform for the new decade. Pain Physician, 14(1), E35-E67.
Kruger, M. (2009). Affordable Health Care for America Act. United States House Committee on Education and Labor. Web.
Nickitas, D., Middaugh, D. J., & Aries, N. (Eds.). (2009). Policy and Politics for Nurses and Other Health Professionals. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.