How the Affordable Care Act Changed the Face of Health Insurance review
Focusing on the article titled “How the Affordable Care Act Changed the Face of Health Insurance,” this article gives out an oversight on the general impact of the Affordable Care Act on both the taxpayers and the cost providers, which include the insurance companies. From this article, the ACA has resulted in upward projection in out of pocket costs, employee health cover deduction, and health-related premiums. This increase is attributed to the rise in the number of coverage without the rise in the number of citizens exposed to employee-related healthcare deductions. According to this article, the introduction of ACA has led to additional medical coverage of twenty million people, and this has resulted in increasing in health care expenses without an increase in the health payers.
The affordable healthcare Act mandates every individual American to have health insurance or else face a tax penalty. This had further increased healthcare coverage on individuals who were no covered before this act was implemented. One of the challenges facing the affordable healthcare act is the impact of voluntary Medicaid expansion, which is an option at the state level. This means the states are free to make their own choices whether to expand the state healthcare or not. Currently, more than 31 countries have developed their Medicaid programs. The federal government agreed to offer a 90% cover for all costs associated to Medicaid programs. The Affordable healthcare act has also led to full coverage of preventive services such as cancer screening and other immunizations. This has further eliminated out of pocket expenses for consumers seeking preventive care.
As a healthcare professional, my ethical concern is on the general increase in healthcare costs, especially to the ordinary citizen concerning the general deductions and out of pocket expenses. Although the affordable healthcare act offers healthcare services to all citizens, there are a few citizens whose healthcare expenses have increased dramatically due to extended coverage. Hence, this may have a cynical impact on citizens’ living standards due to high health deduction from their salaries. To ensure that all citizens have access to health care services, community health nurses should support state Medicaid expansion, which will facilitate universal healthcare coverage to all the citizens. Community health nurses should also educate citizens on the benefits brought about by the affordable healthcare Act so that citizens can support its implementation.