The Affordable Care Act’s Implications for the Healthcare Industry

Introduction

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a constitutional reform in the United States, established to extend health insurance coverage to the underrepresented communities and poor people in the nation. In addition, ACA provides regulations with the target of enhancing healthcare service quality (Himmelstein et al., 2019). Practitioners and clinicians under programs offering treatments are held accountable for the well-being of patients. The rules within ACA mainly focus on improving standards of primary care provision through the formation of working groups among agencies offering treatment services across Federal departments (Himmelstein et al., 2019). Thus, this paper discusses the implications of ACA on the healthcare industry. In-depth concepts emphasize how the policies strengthen the healthcare system and the safety of the workforce and patients.

Affordable Care Act Strengthens the Healthcare Industry

The implementation of the ACA alleviated people from financial distress stemming from a crisis for healthcare services. Normally, people are faced with uncertainties while seeking treatment for their illnesses in hospitals without sufficient funds. Moreover, the facilities which give primary care to their clients without prior charges for their services are subject to financial constraints (McKenna et al., 2018). As a result, the quality of services in different hospitals decreases following the inadequacy of finances. However, through the ACA, the healthcare industry has become immune to challenges stemming from the poor state of low-and middle-income citizens. Through the policy, essential health benefits are considered basic needs, hence permitting their insurance (McKenna et al., 2018). Thus, primary care and management of chronic illness become affordable to poor people, allowing for an efficient flow of funds within the healthcare industry.

The establishment of ACA escalated the accessibility of healthcare services. For a long, the United States has been under the challenge of discrimination among people, with the alienation of the poor and middle-income persons being prominent. Moreover, different policies accelerated racial segregation in seeking primary care in hospitals (Griffith et al., 2017). However, through ACA, insurance has been made accessible to people within minor communities and low-income families. Medical practitioners have been compelled to give quality health care to meet the obligations set by the regulations in the Act. Furthermore, there has been a reduction of charges directly from pockets for hospital bills and down-regulation of emergency response to patients (McKenna et al., 2018). It implies that ACA has broadened the scope of healthcare programs by increasing the scope of attendance to customers.

Health disparities among the citizens have been reduced through ACA, thereby limiting service backlogs in hospitals. According to Federal Poverty Level, older people on the low-and middle-income scale were initially high in number. Moreover, they frequently required medical attendance from different health facilities in the United States (McKenna et al., 2018). However, the implementation of the ACA reduced hurdles to accessing treatments brought by weak financial muscles among poor older adults. The policies expanded the Medicaid program and private Marketplace to allow low-income households access to healthcare services. As a result, clinicians have attended to the clients and monitored their progress throughout the medication periods (McKenna et al., 2018). Many people can get treatments from different hospitals, which has cleared the backlog and burnout among practitioners. Thus, the healthcare industry has been strengthened through timely and quality service provision programs.

The Affordable Care Act has also stabilized the healthcare system by standardizing the revenue returns in different facilities through pricing policies. The healthcare market structure has been modified by the regulations in the constitution (Nadash et al., 2018). Purchasing treatment services from hospitals are under the national subsidies management, as indicated by the insurance policies. Moreover, the contentment of the customers who attend healthcare programs gets evaluated to ensure that the expected quality is achieved (McKenna et al., 2018). As a result, agencies and practitioners working in the healthcare industry have been relieved from the stringent competitive advantage. Moreover, overpricing, which stems from the demand for quality treatment, has been reduced (Nadash et al., 2018). Thus, developing institution which provides healthcare services has been strengthened to meet customers’ demands under insurance programs.

Affordable Care Act and Integrity of the Workforce

A strong and innovative task force operating in a conducive environment is essential in meeting healthcare services’ quality. The Affordable Care Act has implemented regulations and standards as legal requirements to adhere to at the workstations (Silberman, 2020). The new policies complicate medical practitioners’ lives and impose tight obligations on hospitals and organizations dealing with healthcare provision. Professionals in the healthcare industry consider ACA overwhelming, with intense paperwork as they perform their duties. Following the requirements within the laws, skilled personnel in the industry have considered shifting to other careers (Silberman, 2020). The implication is that ACA has subjected health professionals to stress, destabilizing the system.

The Affordable Care Act provisions drive the healthcare industry to acquire more practitioners with skills to engage in inpatient care. The policies implemented in the Act emphasize the quality of services to patients. Moreover, the healthcare workforce and organizations are held responsible for the overall wellness of insured citizens (Nadash et al., 2018). As a result, practicing medicine in the United States has focused on the understanding of patients. Professionals must pay keen attention to their clients’ treatment process and monitor their healing. However, the promulgation of the Affordable Care Act has yielded massive health insurance for aged people in low-income households. The growing numbers of people who require medical attention, with intense care to their treatment needs, have brought imbalance within the workforce (Silberman, 2020). Professionals must strain into extra hours with quality of service in mind to meet their obligations. Thus, Affordable Care Act implies thoroughness at work in the healthcare industry.

The provisions in ACA bank on compliance with regulations for reimbursement of finances to hospitals and organizations, putting the healthcare industry into suppression. The policies encompass rules monitoring the quality of the care given to patients called the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. The legislation has subjected healthcare facilities in regions with high numbers of low-income households to penalties following subsequent admission after the initial treatment (Silberman, 2020). Moreover, the expansion of Medicaid programs has yielded a reduction in revenue of the healthcare providers with the efforts toward meeting the standards of the Affordable Care Act. Health professionals, including medical doctors and nurses, face the shock of reducing their salaries following issues regarding quality demands. Moreover, health facilities laid off their practitioners, and many employment and retention opportunities got diminished on the verge of transition into Medicaid expansion (Silberman, 2020). Thus, Affordable Care Act has held the healthcare industry accountable for the wellness of people in society.

Insurance Matters Associated with the Affordable Care Act

Recent advancements in the Republican Health Policy have sought to replace the Affordable Care Act. However, different states have held the opinion of sticking to the essential health benefits provisions in the legislation. The expansion of Medicaid, personal privileges to access treatments, and exchange of services are considered important policy components (Zhao et al., 2020). In 2019, the legislation on penalties got revoked by the government to free professionals from meeting the quality-of-service obligations toward patients’ well-being. Citizens currently have the option of buying insurance covers on a short-term basis following the negative impact on Marketplace. The new plans have limited access to primary care through premium subscription options, leading to over-the-counter payment strategies, which are extremely expensive (Zhao et al., 2020). Therefore, life insurance through the Affordable Care Act is a vital strategy to achieve equity in the provision of healthcare services in the United States.

Conclusion

The Affordable Care Act has strengthened the healthcare industry in the United States by increasing the accessibility of treatment to underrepresented communities. Moreover, the Act has expanded the scope of services delivered to citizens of the nation. Thus, allowing for maximum utilization of facilities to meet the healthcare needs of all citizens in the United States. The implementation of ACA brought challenges that directly impacted the health professionals in their line of duty. Some practitioners considered quitting the healthcare industry, leading to brain drain and instability in different hospitals across the country. The standards provided in the legislation increased the intensity of commitment within the workforce and disoriented hospitals’ management programs. However, the Federal government needs to consider reinforcing health coverage insurance as directed in the legislation to attain health among citizens in the United States.

References

Griffith, K., Evans, L., & Bor, J. (2017). The Affordable Care Act reduced socioeconomic disparities in health care access. Health Affairs, 36(8), 1503-1510. Web.

Himmelstein, D. U., Lawless, R. M., Thorne, D., Foohey, P., & Woolhandler, S. (2019). Medical bankruptcy: Still common despite the Affordable Care Act. American Journal of Public Health Law and Ethics, 109(3), 431-433. Web.

McKenna, R. M., Langellier, B. A., Alcalá, H. E., Roby, D. H., Grande, D. T., & Ortega, A. N. (2018). The Affordable Care Act attenuates financial strain according to poverty level. INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing, 55, 1-14. Web.

Nadash, P., Miller, E. A., Jones, D. K., Gusmano, M. K., & Rosenbaum, S. (2018). A series of unfortunate events: Implications of Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act for older adults. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 30(3-4), 259-281. Web.

Silberman, P. (2020). The Affordable Care Act: Against the odds, it’s working. North Carolina Medical Journal, 81(6), 364-369. Web.

Zhao, J., Mao, Z., Fedewa, S. A., Nogueira, L., Yabroff, K. R., Jemal, A., & Han, X. (2020). The Affordable Care Act and access to care across the cancer control continuum: A review at 10 years. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 70(3), 165-181. Web.

Find out your order's cost