Essay Sample on The ACA: Transforming US Healthcare System Since 2010

Introduction

Affordable Care Act 2010 (ACA) is one of the core health care policies in policies in the United States of America (Collins, 2013). The system became a law under the signature of President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 (Gruber, 2011). In some cases, the policy is also called Obamacare. ACA represents the most essential in the transforming health care system of the United States since the introduction of Medicaid and Medicare services. According to Collins (2013), ACA has changed all aspects of health care, like insurance and patient care services. Also, the policy is referred to as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. ACA was developed and adopted to provide health insurance services to low and medium-income people. The ACA policy has promoted health care equality and improved patient safety in the United States of America.

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The Rationale for the Affordable Care Act of 2010

The federal government of the United States developed an ACA policy to attain three primary health care goals. The three health care goals of the ACA policy focuses on lowering the cost of medical care and promote patient protection/safety in the United States of America (Gruber, 2011). First, the government wanted to offer affordable health insurance too many people since ACA policy provides subsidies that lower medical costs for people with income range between 100% and 400% of the national poverty level (Collins, 2013). Secondly, the ACA policy was intended to expand the Medicaid program to provide medical coverage to all adults that have income below 130% (Collins, 2013). Lastly, the ACA was introduced to boost innovative health care delivery systems designed to reduce health care costs both in private and public facilities.

Relevancy and Effects of the ACA Policy on Health Care Sector

The ACA policy has improved the quality of health care system in the United States of America due to provision of affordable services to all people regardless of their racial, gender, ethnic, and financial differences (Gruber, 2011). Also, the ACA is among the relevant health care policies because of its positive effects like supporting Medicare programs and promoting equal access to medical services in the United States of America. Many low and medium-income individuals have obtained job-based medical coverage due to the introduction of ACA policy in the United States of America. For instance, about 60% of 45.7 million without any medical insurance covers under 65 years receive incomes that are below 200% of poverty level benefit from the ACA policy (Gruber, 2011).

Families receiving income under $88, 000 per year can access affordable health care through the implementation of ACA policy (Collins, 2013). Also, the ACA has expanded Medicaid eligibility; therefore, enabling low and middle-class people to receive subsidized medical insurance coverage in under a private sector. The ACA policy expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2014; thus, allowing all legal resident to access affordable healthcare services in the United States of America (Collins, 2013).

Deviations That Improve the Effectiveness of the ACA Policy

The effectiveness of the ACA policy is based on the ability to promote patient protection and equal access to affordable medical care among all legal residents in the United States of America. Some of the deviations from ACA policy improve its effectiveness in the American health care system. Increment of tax subsidy is a policy deviation that results in affordable access to health care services both in public and private hospitals (Collins, 2013). Reducing taxations on low and medium income people enables them to access quality health care services in the country. Tax credits reduce the cost of medical care, especially in private hospitals and clinics. Another deviation is providing individual mandate insurance coverage to all legal residents in the United States of America (Collins, 2013). Government offers subsidies to ensure that the medical services are affordable to all people.

Ways of Measuring ACA Policy Improvements

The improvements of ACA policy can be measured through various ways based on their effects in health care sectors. The immediate way of determining ACA policy improvements is through analysis of financial backgrounds and spending made by people in the United States of America (Collins, 2013). For example, the exchange subsidies, spending reductions, gross coverage costs, tax credits from small employers, and net coverage provisions are analyzed to determine the effects of the ACA policy. Another approach for determining changes in the ACA policy is determining the level of health care systems. In this case, indicators of quality health care system like reliability, equal access to medical services, improved patient safety/protection, and increase in expectancy rate are evaluated assessed to determine potential benefits of the ACA policy (Collins, 2013).

The Level of Oversight Provided by the National Government on the ACA Policy

The U.S federal government is responsible for providing oversight on the effects and performances of the ACA policy (Gruber, 2011). The national government controls and oversees financial spending on the ACA policy. To improve health care affordability, the federal government have provided tax subsidies and medical insurance coverage to all people below the lowest poverty level (Gruber, 2011). In this case, the national government is responsible for providing financial oversight to ensure policy sustainability and prevent severe economic crises. Another monitoring provided by the federal government is determining the eligibility of people to the expanded Medicare and Medicaid programs in the United States of America.

References

Collins, S. R. (2013). How the Affordable Care Act of 2010 Will Help Low-and-Moderate- Income Families. Retrieved from: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2010/how-affordable-care-act-2010-will-help-low-and-moderate-income-families

Gruber, J. (2011). The Impacts of the Affordable Care Act: How Reasonable are the Projections? (No. w17168). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from: https://economics.mit.edu/files/11416