Research Paper on Type II Diabetes: A Growing Health Crisis in America

Introduction

Type II diabetes mellitus is one of the universal health disorders that has profoundly affected the more significant part of the American population, as more and increasing issues of health challenges skyrockets every day.T2DM has posed a considerable challenge to the social and economic development of many Americans, following to the increase of the disease, that affects every member of the community, paralyzing many essential development projects in the nation, as federal money has to be channeled to healthcare projects to help increase awareness, and curb the disease. With more than 285 million American citizens suffering from T2DM constituting 12% of the Nation's population, it is no doubt that public policy in helping reduce the devastating growth of the disease should be enacted to help curb the situation (Konchak, Moran, O'Brien, Kandula, & Ackermann, 2016). "The state of Diabetes Prevention Policy in the US following the Affordable Care Act," is a public policy that is explicitly geared towards helping provide healthcare services to the Americans, intending to provide affordable healthcare to diabetes patients.

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According to Frean, Gruber, and Sommers, (2017), there is a stronger connection between lifestyle behavior and Type II diabetes mellitus. Even though behavioral change and some medications play a huge role in preventing T2DM, the risk is higher on children and to the adults, making it a primary national concern. Never the less, healthcare and policy change drastically due to the increased motivation from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which have a higher degree of preventing any potential acceleration of diabetes to the entire community. The underlying benefit of the policy is to increase healthcare services to every American, a step that is geared towards eradicating and curbing the diabetes crisis in the nation.

The Public Agenda Surrounding the Affordable Care Act

According to Corrigan et al., (2020), nearly over 86 million Americans today have "prediabetes", a condition characterized by blood sugar levels being slightly higher than the optimum required levels. However, the levels of sugar are not higher enough to be classified as diabetes. Despite the higher number of Americans being diagnosed with this condition, nearly 5-10% of this population ends up developing diabetes from the prediabetes condition each year (Chen, Vargas-Bustamante, Mortensen, & Ortega, 2016). In other words, this signifies the dangers of the disease and how it is rapidly spreading if no measures and policies are set to govern the situation.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is geared towards providing public healthcare to a different organization, through increased availability of the treatment, and education to the community on the essence of healthy eating and regular exercising. On the contrary, the increased levels of diabetes may be interlinked with higher levels of poor health eating, which results in numerous health-related complications. According to the research conducted by (Sommers, Maylone, Blendon, Orav, & Epstein, 2017), the role of healthcare services and individual behaviors play a significant role in preventing the growing number of individuals with diabetes, hence the implementation of the public policy plays a vital role in curbing diabetes through including several programs such as the essence of leaving a healthy life.

Why the Affordable Care Act is Appropriate?

The level of T2DM in the state has been influenced by several factors, ranging from poor eating habits to weaker legislation preventing the citizens from being sucked in turmoil. With more than 86 million prediabetes cases across the state, it is by far one of the worst cases, since nearly 70% of the population diagnosed with this condition will have diabetes in their lifetime (Konchak et al., 2016). As a result, the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a way of fighting the increased levels of diabetes in the nation is an essential public policy that provides total control of the situation through offering healthcare services to the affected community. Indeed, the system is appropriate for fighting any uncontrolled spread of diabetes due to poor health access to American citizens.

For example, many American children are likely to develop type II diabetes Mellitus, a situation that poses them to serious health complications as they grow to their adulthood. As a result, the entire case is a national threat, as opposed to an individual issue, as it affects the national economy, rather than the well-being of an individual. Through this, the law permits stun measures to be considered as a way of fighting the disease, giving health services to a diverse community that may be affected, hence reducing the possibilities of economic recession.

As Hu, Kaestner, Mazumder, Miller, and Wong, (2018) asserts, the United States has been hit fifteen times negatively due to expensive healthcare plans that have reduced the possibilities of individuals buying insurance cover, let alone the affordability of the regular medical expenses. In this case, the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under President Obama's regime gave the American's higher possibilities of affording the healthcare services once more at an affordable price. The primary purpose of the Affordable Care Act was geared towards lowering the health care costs expenditure of the US government since Medicaid, Medicare and the overall health benefits consumed a slightly higher percentage of the federal budget.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides tax credit services for insurance to the middle-class level society, with an income falling below 400% of the poverty line. On the contrary, the Act limits out-of-pocket cost of up to $7,150 to an individual plan, while a family is offset with $14,300, providing healthcare services to ever American citizen (Corrigan et al., 2020).

Sources Offered by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)

The Affordable Care Act has fundamentally affected the entire policy landscape in which public healthcare operates. With American's life at stake, it is by far the essential concept to implement in helping to reach every single American citizen. Even though the legislation has taken longer since the first implementation, several beneficial sources have been offered by the Act in helping improve the American patient. Moreover, the focus has been geared towards chronic disease eradication by providing available and affordable healthcare services to every single individual.

The implementation of the ACA has played a vital role in ensuring that services are delivered at a cost-efficient price, leading to regular visits. The preventive and well-being visits are composed of an array of fundamental disease management to increases preventive care visits, which are offered with no copay. On the contrary, the legislation mandates that all 50 procedures be covered, as per the outline from the Preventive Services Task Force. The services include domestic violence screening, well-women visit and diabetes testing (Hu et al., 2018).

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates the plans to pay the total cost for a patient should a lab test be used to diagnose an illness. However, the failure to use these services, the regular copays and deductibles apply. As a result, the increasingly rapid growth of type II Diabetes Mellitus is heavily diagnosed using lap testing for optimum effect, which may provide essential findings to the doctors. Through this, the Affordable Care Act plays a significant role in ensuring that diabetes patients are appropriately diagnosed. Additionally, the Act provides emergency room services, which are covered in most of the plans. However, some may charge an extra fee if the patient decides to seek help from different hospitals beyond his or her network. Despite all these excessive charges, the ACA does not impose the costs making it a suitable plan for middle-class citizens.

Why the Bill Should Have Been Implemented

With the increased number of Americans suffering from Type II diabetes Mellitus, it is indeed essential for the government to act around the clock to ensure that Americans are provided not only with the best medical care but also most affordable. According to Courtemanche, Marton, Ukert, Yelowitz, and Zapata, (2017) assessment, most of the patients suffering from Type II Diabetes Mellitus did not know their condition, due to expensive medical services. Additionally, the severely affected members were the middle class.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has broadly addressed the increased levels of Type II Diabetes Mellitus, reducing the suffering of the patients. More so, this has reduced the economic distress of the patients, with little concerns on the medical expenses. Moreover, the bill has played a significant role in ensuring that medical cover and expensive healthcare services are offloaded from the patient's shoulder, making it easier and accessible for all Americans irrespective of their income and social status.

Even though the United States is one of the nations in the globe with advanced medical training and higher services, it is ironic to note that most of the patients received no proper medical treatment due to higher expenses in the pharmaceutical sector. However, with the introduction of the bill, several changes were made to help give health medical services to both upper and lower-class Americans, who are in dire need of the services. As Corrigan et al., (2020) outlines, healthcare is a multidimensional concept, which incorporates numerous organizations, financing, availability, utilization and among all satisfaction to the patients. In this case, serval ACA benefits extend adequate healthcare accessibility to millions of Americans via the extension of insurance coverage and higher availability of vital healthcare services and providers.

In the bottom line, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is geared towards providing the American population with readily available healthcare services, to help reduce the cost of healthcare services in the nation. As a result, many Americans are benefiting from the service, which has provided them with an opportunity to have affordable healthcare services. According to Rosenbaum, (2011), T2DM is a global challenge yet affecting the Americans, becoming one of the significant public problems in the healthcare sector. However, since the first implementation of the law, several Americans have widely benefited, to help fight diabetes, at the expense of the government.

The Amendments to the Affordable Care Act

Since the first signing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 March by former US President Barack Obama, the public policy has been a subject of congressional debates, with significant changes coming into play in 2019. Most of the amendments were geared towards improving the system with revising od tax penalty associated with not maintaining cover (Courtemanche et al., 2017). Despite the modifications, eligibility remains the same for the time being, despite the individual mandate penalty being behind us. On the contrary, practical changes to previous rules now permit us a short-term plan, which is aimed at competing with the ACA-approved cover.

Among the considerable changes in the policy includes the individual mandate penalty, where the taxpayers are obliged to carry health insurance neither via the ACA Exchange or via their employer. More so, the law still does not permit them to pay for their ACA-compliant plans. Never the less, the taxpayers are no longer faced with the pos...