Patient Affordable Care Act
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (The U.S. Constitution Online, 2010). When the United States Congress met on July 4, 1776, the men who enacted the United States Constitution had no idea what the health care section would turn into. According to Shi and Singh (2008), health care products and, services were delivered by “anyone who had the inclination to set himself up as a physician” (Shi & Singh, 2008, pg.85). In 2012, the theory of all men are created equal is proved wrong because not every man, woman, and child is privileged to be covered by a health care plan. On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama put into act the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act will benefit children at first and eventually all the people of the United States. The Affordable Care Act will ensure that insurance companies will no longer be able to deny people coverage because of a pre-existing condition, will end lifetime limits on policies and, will let patients chose the physicians he or she wants to see. The Affordable Care Act will also ensure that the “most egregious practices of the insurance industry” (United States Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. para. 2) are stopped and businesses and patients will be able to use the health care system appropriately. The Affordable Care Act has nine titles dealing with the reform. One title or mandate is to ensure that all Americans will have quality, affordable health care. The information provided in this paper will be described how this mandate was developed , who was involved in the development, and his or her respective roles in the development. An analysis will be made of the mandate’s impact on health care delivery, providers, and consumers.
Description of the process of how the mandate is developed
A bill is nothing more than an idea. The idea can come from individual or a set of individuals. The individuals will bring their idea to his or her perspective representative of the senate or State Representative. This person will bring the idea to the state agency specifically responsible to write the idea into legal terms; this agency is called the Legislative Research Council. Once the council has properly written the idea it is deemed a tentative bill. The representative from either the house or senate will bring forth the potential bill. Usually more than one legislator brings forth the bill and these people are called the primary sponsors of the bill. The bill is given to the Chief Clerk of the House or the Secretary of the Senate who assigns the bill a number. If the idea (bill) is proposed by a senator the bill is referred to as a senate bill if the bill is brought forth by someone in the house, the bill is referred to as a house bill. The bill is announced in the perspective house in front of all present as the name of the bill and the number of the bill. The bill assigned to a committee. The committees’ responsibility is to ensure that all views of the bill are looked at and receive supporters and non-supporters feedback of the bill. The committee evaluates the feedback and decides whether or not the bill will move to the next step of moving to the floor for a full house or senate consideration. This step is crucial to whether an idea gets to become a bill, be put on the table for later consideration or deferred to another time, such as 45 days that the bill is considered dead. If the bill is lucky enough to pass this step, the bill is sent to the opposite house and goes through the same process as it just went through. Once the exact bill from both the house and the senate are approved, the bill is sent to the President. If the President approves the bill he will sign it and the bill will become a law. If the President chooses not to sign it, he may keep it on his desk for 10 days, and the bill will become a law after 10 days if he does not sign the bill. If the President is in opposition of the bill he will veto the bill. If the President vetos a bill the senate and the house must havea majority vote of two- thirds of the legislators voting “yea” for the bill. The specific bill, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, H.R. 3590, had the support of most unions,] including the firefighters, police, nurses, military, and the elderly groups. Those who opposed the bill were owners of hotels, motels, oil,and gas companies, conservative Christians, and builders associations. The Senate passed the bill on December 24, 2009 with 60 voting yes and 39 voting no (United States Congress, 2010). I went to Washington D.C. in June of 2009 and lobbied for Healthcare For All with the nurses union of SEIU local 1199 of Madison, WI. The sponsor of the bill was Democrat, Charles Rangel of the New York House, District 15. Charles Rangel is on the House ways and means committee. The ways and means committee is in charge of writing laws and guidelines that affect Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs.
Analysis of Mandate's impact on Health Care
Delivery
Providers.
Consumers.
The Affordable Care Act has a mandate of being fully executed by 2012. The mandate of quality, affordable healthcare will be accomplished by making sure pre-existing condition exclusions will not be practiced by health insurance companies. The citizens of the United States will play a large part in the reform by being “part of the systems and must have coverage” (Senate Democrats, n.d. pg.1). Tax credits for families and singles will guarantee insurance will be affordable to every person. The Act will require most people, employers, and health plans to meet minimum requirements; those who are non-compliant will pay penalties.
Delivery
Improved delivery of health care is assured in the Act by improving information technology and by having facilities such as, long-term care hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation centers, hospice programs, and cancer centers report quality measures. Health and Human Services, state, andfederal agencies will have to report demographics of the people the state serves, and non-profit insurance companies will be established. (Summary of Key Health Information Technology Provisions, n.d.) Delivery may be impaired because the younger generation who did not have health insurance coverage will be seeing primary care providers, which could lengthen the time that seniors will be able to get to see the doctor. Outcomes will be better for children and access to care will be better for children.
Providers
Insurance coverage not only affects those who do not have coverage but also those who do have coverage. Providers will see more patients due to insurance coverage. This means the number of general practice physicians has to increase to keep up with the demand of services; therefore physicians have to work in a health care team approach to better deal with the challenges of increasing patients and the elderly.
Consumers
Consumers will be affected by longer wait times for general issues such as, sports physicals. For issues such as, this clinics that deal in non-life threatening issues will be available for consumers. For those who believe that the Act will increase wait times for all patients such as the Canadian Health Care System, this not true. Sick patients will see physicians in a timely manner. Consumers will see a change in medical practice. Physicians are encouraged to work with patients and have the patient be active in his or her health care by making decisions on healthy life-style living, reducing risk factors, and over all general wellbeing. Coverage’s will no longer have caps on monetary limits, limited benefits will no longer be an issue. Care will be coordinated through payment incentives. The consumer will benefit for the physician producing quality care not quantity care.
Conclusion
When the fore-fathers of this country wrote the Constitution health care was not viewed as a profession but more of a skill. Now236 year’s later health care reform weighs heavily on everyone’s mind. Myths of the Act being a government takeover are nothing more than myths. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is an extension of our current health care system. In the end, health care costs will be reduced , people of the United States will be treated as our fore-fathers had stated as equal and lives will be saved. The reform may not be perfect, but the reform is a start to ensure the people of the United States are medially taken care of.

References
Senate Democrats. (n.d.). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Detailed Summary. Retrieved from http://dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2008). Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Barlett.
Summary of Key Health Information Technology Provisions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/content/files/PPACA_Summary.pdf
The U.S. Constitution Online. (2010, January 8). Retrieved from http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html
United States Congress. (2010, December 31). H.R. 3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Retrieved from http://maplight.org/us-congress/bill/111-hr-3590/423082/contributions-by-vote
United States Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Fact Sheet: The Affordable Care Act’s New Patient’s Bill of Rights. Retrieved from http://healthreform.gov/newsroom/new_patients_bill_of_rights.html