Introduction
The recent global health issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, have challenged the existing healthcare systems worldwide, including in the United States. Existing healthcare programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) cannot cover all emerging healthcare issues, signaling the need for systemic reforms (Badger, 2022). President Biden’s administration has focused on healthcare reform relevant to the existing problems specific to the United States. Despite remarkably high budget spending on healthcare, scholars and experts fail to detect how current efforts to reform US healthcare delivery influence budget spending (Papanicolas et al., 2018). However, scholars agree on the positive effect of healthcare reforms in the United States. Experts mainly emphasize how the level of medical insurance has been growing thanks to implementing the aforementioned policies (Benitez & Seiber, 2018). Individual states, including Florida, have chosen different approaches for implementing and managing these changes, influencing their healthcare systems.
Discussion
To correctly assess the effects of the current healthcare reform, it is helpful to compare it to the previous efforts in the United States to improve the federalized healthcare system. Most experts, including Courtemanche et al. (2018), agree that the ACA has significantly increased insurance coverage among the American population through federal regulations, state mandates, medical area subsidies, and Medicaid expansion. The main focus of the ACA included improving access to health care through increased insurance rates, though scholars have pointed out the different possibilities for the future of investments in the system (Courtemanche et al., 2018). The Act’s specific aspect is how it affects patients’ health behavior. According to Courtemanche et al. (2018), the ACA increased preventive care by introducing regular check-ups, emphasizing pap tests and mammograms, and enhancing the use of HIV tests. This led to people generally adopting a more cautious health behavior leading to an increase in private healthcare institutions.
It can be explained by the fact that the ACA is based mainly on Medicaid basis. This program has traditionally been paying providers much less than private insurers (Courtemanche et al., 2018). This fact led to difficulties in finding primary care specialists. However, the subsequent increase in Medicaid payment rates has correlated with improved primary care appointments (Courtemanche et al., 2018). Therefore, its real influence on the effects of ACA remains unclear. Nevertheless, the steady increase in health insurance rates under Medicaid and the ACA is noteworthy. President Biden’s current reform largely follows the principles laid out in the ACA, strengthening it after the Trump presidency (Silberner, 2021). While the program aimed to reverse changes introduced by the previous administration and improve access to health care, the COVID-19 pandemic and unequal distribution of resources between states posed challenges (Benitez & Seiber, 2018). Therefore, the actual effect of the reform on the healthcare system remains ambiguous.
The undoubtedly positive effect of the health care reform is its effect on insurance rates. According to experts, around 20 million people have received insurance coverage under the ACA (Emanuel, 2021). It was mainly achieved by partially subsidizing insurance programs, urging private providers to expand their premiums, and reducing the spectrum of premium-limiting health conditions. Nevertheless, nearly 9% of Americans remain uninsured (Emanuel, 2021). It is especially evident in rural areas with poor access to affordable insurance and health care (Benitez & Seiber, 2018). Other positive effects of the reform include the steady level of federal budget spending on health care resulting in the improvement in the quality of medical services.
However, a questionable decision of the current administration was not to focus on implementing a single-payer system. However, the possibility exists for future positive changes. Those may include lowering the Medicare eligibility age and allowing it to negotiate with drug manufacturers (Cutler, 2021). Experts also point out the persistent underperformance relative to spending (Emanuel, 2021). The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) created by Congress has proven to be ineffective, highlighting the negative aspects of the healthcare reform. It has failed to provide an effective innovation models for reducing healthcare spending or improving the quality of services (Badger, 2022). Instead, federal spending increased without producing effective reforms of national healthcare (Badger, 2022). These observations show that the existing system mechanisms require re-evaluation and optimization according to the current situation.
One of the Biden administration’s reform’s central targets is improving access to health information and facilitating its exchange. It has positively affected healthcare outcomes in Florida hospitals primarily by decreasing the probability of unplanned readmissions for acute heart issues (Chen et al., 2019). It indicates that health information exchange (HIE) programs can potentially help achieve broader healthcare system effects by improving the population’s general health. Since Florida has a large elderly population, it poses a concern for high COVID-19 infection rates (Oliveira et al., 2020). The current state of Florida’s health care system, particularly the prevalence of HIE, has proven to be relatively effective against such critical conditions. Low mortality rates among patients admitted to ICU demonstrate it (Oliveira et al., 2020). Florida hospitals have also successfully implemented digital solutions such as mixed integer programming (MIP) for the allocation of ambulances to reduce patient waiting times in emergency departments (Acuna et al., 2019). It has helped to reduce overcrowding and improve the state healthcare system on financial and life-saving perspectives. These results show that Florida implements the current healthcare reforms and innovations efficiently.
Conclusion
Healthcare reform has dramatically influenced the quality and accessibility of healthcare in the United States. Improving insurance rates and premium accessibility under the ACA was relatively successful, while the Biden administration’s efforts have helped to maintain the pace of positive change. However, the issue of unequal access to affordable health care exists in some states. Florida has shown a positive example of effectively organizing the state healthcare system and implementing federal programs efficiently.
References
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