The Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010, and has since affected the practice of healthcare in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2014). The ACA has had significant impacts on health care by requiring health care providers to be completely digital to allow for better access to patient histories and expanding coverage to those who may previously not have had access to healthcare (USDHHS, 2015). The current law is trying to improve quality and lower health care costs while providing better access to health care (USDHHS, 2014). While the law seems to be working well for patients, there are several factors that affect healthcare providers and organizations, which has caused
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As an alternative, I believe that a reformation to the ACA should involve providing free preventative care for uninsured patients while incentivizing prevention for healthcare organizations. By focusing on preventative care, medical costs can be significantly decreased so that the patient or hospital is not stuck paying expensive medical bills that could easily have been prevented. The cost of primary prevention of disease is significantly less than secondary or tertiary prevention and would allow patients to be educated and empower them to prevent further illnesses. Research by Molinari, et al. (2007) found that outpatient cases of influenza cost approximately “$95 for non-high risk 5-17 year-olds to $733 for high risk 50-64-year-olds” (p.5089). Molinari, et al. (2007) also found that “the cost per hospitalized case ranged from a mean of $10,880 for non-high-risk children <18 years of age” (p. 5089). Comparatively, preventative care is significantly cheaper and could be covered by the government, especially for uninsured patients. The government could further incentivize primary prevention by providing increased funding for those organizations that provide preventative care to a majority of eligible patients. Access to preventative care would also be affected by this reform since there will be a greater …show more content…
1631). This legislation has impacts on individuals and health care providers more than the community in general. The legislation allows “patients to use investigational drugs without the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) permission” (Dresser, 2015, pp. 1631-1632). While this legislation would allow terminally-ill patients access to possibly life-saving medication, the medication hasn’t been through FDA testing, which may result in worse side effects for the patients. The law does provide that the “patient must provide written informed consent” and that physicians must attest to the fact that the patient has a terminal illness and all other treatment options have been considered prior to the investigational drug (Dresser, 2015, p. 1641). The biggest impact of this legislation is to the individual as they will have to face the consequences of the medication, while also hoping for the benefits. The healthcare provider who treats the patient with the medication will also have to be very well educated in the medication’s potential side effects, while carefully monitoring the patient for any adverse, unknown side effects. The legislation does, however, protect health care providers from legal action for recommending an investigational drug
As an alternative, I believe that a reformation to the ACA should involve providing free preventative care for uninsured patients while incentivizing prevention for healthcare organizations. By focusing on preventative care, medical costs can be significantly decreased so that the patient or hospital is not stuck paying expensive medical bills that could easily have been prevented. The cost of primary prevention of disease is significantly less than secondary or tertiary prevention and would allow patients to be educated and empower them to prevent further illnesses. Research by Molinari, et al. (2007) found that outpatient cases of influenza cost approximately “$95 for non-high risk 5-17 year-olds to $733 for high risk 50-64-year-olds” (p.5089). Molinari, et al. (2007) also found that “the cost per hospitalized case ranged from a mean of $10,880 for non-high-risk children <18 years of age” (p. 5089). Comparatively, preventative care is significantly cheaper and could be covered by the government, especially for uninsured patients. The government could further incentivize primary prevention by providing increased funding for those organizations that provide preventative care to a majority of eligible patients. Access to preventative care would also be affected by this reform since there will be a greater …show more content…
1631). This legislation has impacts on individuals and health care providers more than the community in general. The legislation allows “patients to use investigational drugs without the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) permission” (Dresser, 2015, pp. 1631-1632). While this legislation would allow terminally-ill patients access to possibly life-saving medication, the medication hasn’t been through FDA testing, which may result in worse side effects for the patients. The law does provide that the “patient must provide written informed consent” and that physicians must attest to the fact that the patient has a terminal illness and all other treatment options have been considered prior to the investigational drug (Dresser, 2015, p. 1641). The biggest impact of this legislation is to the individual as they will have to face the consequences of the medication, while also hoping for the benefits. The healthcare provider who treats the patient with the medication will also have to be very well educated in the medication’s potential side effects, while carefully monitoring the patient for any adverse, unknown side effects. The legislation does, however, protect health care providers from legal action for recommending an investigational drug