...What the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Means for Individuals Melanie Walker COM/156 September 23, 2012 Alicia Cathell Many of us have heard in the news that major changes are coming to health insurance. The new act will affect everyone by changing the way insurance is handled and how we receive our healthcare. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare or PPACA) will take effect over the next few years. Some citizens feel threatened by this act because of the negative publicity it has received, feeling that government should not have so much power over the health of the individual..These changes may seem catastrophic to those not aware of what the new insurance reform entails. They are scared of the unknown. Even though many feel that PPACA is unconstitutional with its penalties and reforms, the impact will affect millions of people by allowing them to receive proper healthcare. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed to help establish affordable health care for all Americans. According to the article, Will Doctors Work less Under Obamacare, the new act will affect about 32 million Americans who currently cannot afford healthcare and do not qualify for federal assistance. (Garthwaite 2012) The first initiative of this act was passed in October 2011 which affected the dependents listed under a parent's insurance plan. Prior to the passing of the Act dependents could only be covered up to the age of 18 unless a full time...
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...Running head: ETHICAL ISSUES AS A RADIOLOGY 1 Ethical Issues in Radiology Interview Paper Annelia Cyril Adventist University of Health Sciences 2 Abstract As a health care professionals we live through our career with sincere dedication to our patients. Ethics encompasses a variety of issues that all medical professionals, including medical imaging technologists must ultimately tackle. When considering ethics, medical imaging professionals need to take into account their responsibilities to patients, colleagues, employers, the imaging profession, and themselves. This interview will review these responsibilities with respect to medical imaging and the challenges that imaging technologists may face in approaching their work from the perspective of ethics. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) has developed a Standard of Ethics in which radiologic technologists have to abide by. With the continual invention and improvement of lifesaving medical technology also comes the burden of ethical decision making. Radiologists today face more ethical issues than meet the eye. ...
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...The $5.6 billion Aetna-Coventry Health Care merger is the biggest in the health care sector since President Barack Obama enacted the reform law in March 2010. The deal will give Aetna, the third-largest health insurer in the U.S., a big increase in Medicare and Medicaid customers, including poor elderly people on both programs, and in the number of people who buy insurance on their own or get coverage from small businesses. Aetna will gain 5 million new customers when the merger is complete and stands to get even more in the near future. Health insurance companies, hospitals and other players are merging into bigger entities in hopes of restraining their own costs and grabbing larger shares of the markets as they are reshaped by health care reform. The health insurance industry is undergoing a transformation as a result of the health care reform law. Twenty-five million people will buy health insurance on the law's regulated "exchange" marketplaces in the states, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Many of those small businesses and people who don't receive health benefits from their jobs will get federal tax credits. Medicaid will also add 11 million poor people and states are expected to contract with private health insurance companies to cover them. In addition to boosting its Medicare and Medicaid business, the merger also gives Aetna better access to the "lower end" of the health insurance market -- people who will switch between Medicaid, individual insurance...
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...Racial and ethnic disparities in access to health care is growing in the United States. Minorities are less likely to have a consistent source of care and are more apt to consider the emergency department their medical care home than whites. It is known that minorities are less likely to use any medical service or receive preventive care. Their rates of preventable hospitalizations and unmet health needs are substantially higher than those of Caucasians. A complexity of these disparities may be caused by the physician’s failure to participate in the Medicaid program. In a recent study is showed Medicaid recipients were almost half as likely to be offered an appointment within one week compared with those claiming to have private insurance. This article also looks at the connection between the patient’s race and the physician’s participation in Medicaid. The question is to whether physicians' participation is linked to residential segregation based on poverty or race and whether the racial composition of the Medicaid population itself matters. There were three hypotheses that were tested. They are: 1. Physicians are more likely to accept Medicaid patients in areas where the poor are white. 2. Physicians are less likely to accept Medicaid patients in areas that are more racially segregated. 3. Physicians are less likely to accept Medicaid. The Medicaid Segregation Hypothesis Sloan and colleagues influenced what they call the “two-market demand model”. Physicians prefer...
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...Higher Costs PPACA has touted new benefits without measures to cut cost.1 One should know that in America there are already federal laws and programs to cover the elderly (Medicare), the poor (Medicaid), and uninsured children (CHIPs), In addition there is basically free or low cost care to anyone who needs it and it is available if one looks for it. Examples include: Shriner’s hospitals, free clinics, and providers who do pro bono work. In case that wasn’t enough, there are also laws in place that ban practices of charging more to people with pre-existing conditions in employer-based health insurance. The 60% of Americans who get their healthcare insurance from their employer may actually be hurt by PPACA. All one needs to do is make the connection that minimum standards for health insurance and broader access to subsidized healthcare will drive taxes up.4 But for those who have a hard time making the connection, the literature supports costs 3 times higher than initially stated by President Obama, and an additional $118 billion through 2023.3 In order to drive home the point of higher costs, look at an example used by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Justice Alito spoke on the hypothetical typical healthy 27 year old worker who on average consumes less than $900 annually on healthcare services. Under the PPACA that same healthy 27 year old worker will be required to spend more than 5 times that amount for a healthcare policy that gives a low deductable and pediatric...
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...Health Care Reform highlights many important issues of ethics. Recently adopted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 caused a debate on ethical issues (acep.org). The changes and proposed changes associated with this law increase the complexity of both patient care and larger healthcare system. Because of this law, health care will receive even more scrunity and must provide high-quality, patient-centered, research-based care with fewer or different types of resources. PPACA is widely recognized as the most important part of health care legislation since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid nearly half a century ago. Perhaps because it is such a radical change in the health care, US Congress debate over PPACA was protracted...
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...Protection and Accountable Care Act The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also referred to as ObamaCare, federal healthcare law, Affordable Care Act, or ACA, is a United States federal Statute signed into law on March 23, 2010, by President Barack Obama. In combination with the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act, it represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). The PPACA is intended to increase the number of health insured Americans and reduce the overall costs of healthcare. The PPACA will revamp the current health insurance system by extending health insurance coverage to nearly 32 million currently uninsured Americans; 18 million through Medicaid expansion to individuals with incomes under the 133 percent federal poverty line (FPL), and 18 million through government exchange subsidies to individuals with incomes up to 400 percent of the FPL. Citizens and legal residents in families with income between 100 and 400 percent of poverty who purchase coverage through a health insurance exchange are eligible for a tax credit to reduce the cost of coverage. To subsidize the additional 32 million individuals covered, the new law introduces 18 new taxes and penalties on individuals, employers, and businesses (Campbell). Though the PPACAs intent is to lower healthcare costs, it will increase the federal deficit, increase state...
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...The Decision of the Supreme Court on the PPACA Constitutionality The Decision of the Supreme Court on the PPACA Constitutionality From the moment the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was just in its proposal stage, it proved to be the most argued upon piece of US legislation of the last decades. It stirred controversy among the general public, medical professionals, raising concerns of various nature, including public health, legal, and ethical, to the delight of hundreds of political analysts. “Chief Justice Roberts has handed a political weapon to the Republicans, who can portray the PPACA as a major tax increase. Another potentially disturbing element of Chief Justice Roberts's opinion is the limitations he places on the federal spending power… The federal government could place conditions on the new Medicaid grants, Roberts argued, but could not threaten existing Medicaid funding without being unconstitutionally coercive. This part of Roberts's opinion is unfortunate, making it more likely that a few red states will reject the Medicaid expansion for no compelling reason.” (Lemieux, 2012) From the public health perspective, the decision of the Supreme Court does not seem beneficial. It is obvious that PPACA was intended to address the social inequalities that prevent millions of low income, uninsured citizens to benefit of decent health care. The law aims to accomplish the following major tasks:...
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...Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as Obama Care. As a direct result of this there are going to be more people on Medicaid and also more “baby-boomers” are going to be turning sixty-five thus qualifying for Medicare. Although fewer doctors are accepting government insured patients! This paper will research the number of doctors accepting governmentally insured patients and also if there is a shortage in the number of providers as the PPACA goes into effect. With data provided from the American Medical Association (AMA), Center for Disease Control (CDC), and other academic journals an evaluation is going to be made of if there is enough doctors to meet the demand of newly insured patients in the US. Issues of access and quality of care will also be addressed in this paper. Are Doctors accepting Government Insured Patients as Obama has Signed the Affordable Care Act On March 23, 2010 President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as Obama Care. As a direct result of this there are going to be more people on Medicaid and also more “baby-boomers” are going to be turning sixty-five thus qualifying for Medicare. Although fewer doctors are accepting government insured patients (Tanne, 2010). This paper will research the number of doctors accepting governmentally insured patients specifically Medicaid beneficiaries and also if there is a shortage in the number of providers as the PPACA goes into effect. Medicaid plays...
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...Affordable Care Act, abbreviated as PPACA. The study relies on three scholarly journal articles that assist in deepening knowledge about PPACA. The main focus of this study is to discuss the impact of this policy decision. It mainly focuses on one positive and one negative effect that this policy has in healthcare. Introduction The recently passed PPACA increases access to various health services. For instance, it increases access by citizens to health insurance coverage and expands federalism (Chaikind, 2011). For a health policy to be fully and effectively functional, it requires creation of various health insurance policies that offer small employers and individual citizens with access to health insurance. PPACA has been able to increase access to various health insurances by ensuring that Medicaid eligibility has been expanded (Chaikind, 2011). It has also enabled extending funding for insurance covers that target children and has also subsidized premiums on private insurance. More so, this government policy, also known as Obamacare, has been able to offer cost-sharing provisions for in individuals with low income. Though most of the provisions in this policy will take effect from2014, some provisions are being phased in currently and others are already in place (Chaikind, 2011). Positive Effect of PPACA: Supporting Federalism With regard to the main positive effect of PPACA on healthcare, it is a policy that supports federalism. Since PPACA was enacted on March 2010, most...
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...Extract from Major Impacts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Date: June 20th, 2014 PP. 4 – 8 … The debate about the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has been active and prevalent for the last 6 years. Parties resistant to this new law have focused on a wide range of topics to halt its progress. For example, in 2009, Sarah Palin claimed there would be death panels formed to advise elderly on whether or not they should take their own lives. This statement, named the most outrageous term by the American Dialect Society, was born from a fundamental misunderstanding of the advance-care planning consultation reform that was eventually removed from the PPACA. In short, it would have reimbursed doctors who helped patients plan how they will be treated in their old age or if they were to become seriously ill. It must be noted that this is a service that is offered by many private insurance companies today. Another common tactic is to claim that the legislated change of current health plans will lead to greater cost from the new insurance standards now mandated by the PPACA. This argument is also fallacious: most American industries have comparable-requirements and standards that must be met, which have actually greatly increased savings, efficiency, and safety. Regulations are put in place to protect the consumer and insure the market’s competitive nature, which leads to lower prices and higher quality goods. Just some of the other major...
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...Organizational Responsibility and Current Health Care Issues Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Health Law and Ethics Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act History “After the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in March 2010, numerous lawsuits challenging various provisions of the momentous health care reform law were filed in the federal courts. Many of those cases were dismissed, but some federal appellate courts issued decisions on the merits of the law. In November 2011, the United States Supreme Court agreed to consider several issues related to the constitutionality of the ACA arising out of two cases in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals” (The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation). Headline news featured the highly controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also referred to as Obamacare, during the week of 25-June-2012. In response to health care crises in the United States, PPACA advanced to the forefront. “[W]e must also address the crushing cost of health care. This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages. And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas. And...
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...Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) The purpose of the PPACA is to ensure more Americans have access to quality healthcare. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the PPACA is paid for and will provide quality healthcare to more than 94% of Americans. The PPACA will, or is supposed to, eliminate lifetime and unreasonable annual limits on healthcare benefits; prohibit health insurance policy recessions; extend dependent healthcare coverage up until the age of 26; provide assistance to uninsured due to pre-existing conditions; cap insurance administrative expenditures; require coverage for immunizations and preventative services; develop uniform coverage documents allowing consumers to juxtapose different insurance plans from different insurance providers; create temporary re-insurance programs to support coverage for early retirees; simplify healthcare administration as a means to lower health system costs; create an internet portal for consumers to identify insurance coverage options; and implement an appeals process to guarantee consumers and provide consumers assistance processing and accessing their insurance coverage ("PPACA Summary," n.d.) The PPACA does expand public programs, e.g. expanding the eligibility for Medicaid to lower income people; simplify Medicaid and enhance the Children’s Health Insurance Program; simplify enrollment; and expand resources to community based programs, just to name a few. The PPACA will affect every community in the...
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...Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Diana Gonzalez Perez Florida International University Introduction The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama. The PPACA was enacted to address the lack of quality health care delivery to the 49 million uninsured Americans, a number which has grown with the slow economic growth our country is experiencing (Rattue, 2011). As part of this legislation there are ten provisions, all which are important to comprehensive healthcare reform. Each provision addresses specific functions of the current healthcare delivery system including insurance, reimbursement, medications, and taxes. In this paper, specific provisions of the PPACA will be discussed as well as the legal implications of the legislation. Provisions The PPACA has ten provisions which supply legal guidance for the health care reforms expected to take place from 2010-2014. These provisions will continue to affect the Nation as healthcare continues to evolve. Title I. The quality, affordable health care for all Americans provision includes subtitles A-F. Title I sets the basic guidelines required to implement the PPACA legislation. Subtitle A. Subtitle A sets specific guidelines to be followed by health plans including the prohibition of establishing lifetime limits or annual limits for any participant or beneficiary after January 1, 2014, but permits a restricted annual limit for plans...
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...Nurses, Currently, health care systems are undergoing a complete transformation to help better accommodate patients by providing them with affordable high quality care. These transformations are a direct result of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), which includes several provisions to intertwine cost effective care with quality. Health cares current arrangement is fragmented, lacking individual responsibility for the coordination and quality of patient care. By designing inducements for integrated care delivery models and disbursing funds for coordination and quality care, the law is attempting to restore health cares resource allocation while rewarding quality of care over volume of care. Consequently, nurses must become adjusted to the reorganized health care system because they are intricate part patient care and outcomes, as well as being fundamental to the attainment of emerging patient-care delivery models (ANA, 2010). The purpose of the this letter is to explain how the practice of nursing is expected to shift and to also discuss the concepts of continuum of care, accountable care organizations (ACO’s) medical homes, nurse-managed health care clinics (NMHCs). PPACA recognizes the potential leader role for the advance practice registered nurse (APRN) in new integrated care systems, and as an important contributor of primary care services. An ACO is collaboration among various health care professions who assume joint accountability for...
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