Blog 5: The Future in Healthcare

The United States of America is currently in the process heading into the second year of a four year plan of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As these couple years pass us by, everyone in America will finally experiment the joy and woes of having healthcare coverage. Many will conclude that Barack Obama had done a great job implemented a universal healthcare package, and many other will conclude that Obama have put our economic status worst than before. No matter how well or worst our economic is in the United States, the healthcare coverage will impact every individual in some way. In this blog, there will be predictions on topics such as, healthcare with people, healthcare within the healthcare system, healthcare with politics and economy. No matter where our country may be heading into, healthcare is a topic that will constantly be changing, so will the reform.

The one number factor of Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to affect  all of the people in the United States. The people that are included are not only American citizens or legal aliens, but for all people who are physically residing in the United States. The breakthrough is everyone may have the opportunity to purchase health insurance coverage at a very low rate or through employers. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, two groups in particular have benefited. People with existing medical condition, also known as “Pre-existing condition patients,” now are able to be insured by all medical health providers and private health insurance companies. This is an actual requirement by the act, because the law had made it illegal to turn down this group by no insuring them with a plan. In addition, young adults are now able to be medically insured by their parent’s health insurance until the individual reaches 26 years of age. However, the particular young individual must qualify as a full time student and similar requirements. This is a significant breakthrough, because the pre-existing condition patients and the young adult are the one makes up more than 70% of all uninsured medical cost. With such implement in place, we can soon see a decrease of uninsured medical visits, and have an increase in successful recovery rate. Most importantly, these two groups of people will have health insurance during their most fragile point in life. This is one of many pieces of the Affordable Care Act that will not be reformed in the future, because during the Clinton’s Administration, Clinton proposed young adults to be covered under their parents until age 23. In addition, during Clinton’s administration pre-existing condition patients with terminal illness must also be treated without the cost to the patients. Hence, Clinton’s precedent guidelines were not reform but instead were ratified to become more beneficial to the people. Similar ratification can be seen if there may be another reform in the future.

Another factor that may have an enormous impact due to the Affordable Care Act is for the healthcare providers. The healthcare providers consist of the nurse, doctors, and similar service personnel will be highly impacted. In this country there are a limited of healthcare providers that can provide all the type of need from patients. On top of that, the number of nurses and doctors are at a shortage and are brutally overwhelmed. Therefore, with such act in place and providing medical insurance coverage for all individuals, there will be a sharp increase in services. There are statistics that shows every nurse is responsible for at least three to five patients at a given time. However, a prediction claimed, nurses will be responsible up to eight at given time due to the newly implemented act. Similar statistics shows doctors will be responsible to care for at least 15 patients while the average prior the act was at eight. This is a problem for our society, because overwhelming doctors and nurses will eventually decrease their judgments and their ability to have a long working life span. To simplify, there are a shortage of medical staff prior to the act, and with the act now in place, there will be a significant shortage, beyond what is already being experienced. On top of shortage of staff, medical sites, such as emergency room, hospitals, and clinics; will be over capacity Since there are an increase to the number of patients being accepted into medical health insurance, majority of the patients will take the opportunity to use their coverage to the maximum. Hence, the number of patients and usage increases, the facilities and staff will continue to remain the same. With such conclusion, patients will have to deal with delay in service, accuracy of service, and most importantly the attention of service. This is the future that is being predicted for the healthcare system and there will never be a point where medical staffs exceed patients.

The last factor consists of the government, politics and economy. This is one of the hardest factors to predict, because of many co-existing elements. Nevertheless, the healthcare reform is influenced by all of these factors and in return, the reform will have an impact on these factors. Now that the Affordable Care Act is half way implemented, we can see the government is seeking legal help to sort things out. The judicial branch is debating rather or not if the Affordable Care Act is constitutional; as least on some of the critical topics, such as, competitive health insurance cost, and limitation on insurance companies. This is an issue that will either favor or break the Obama’s Administration, because without all parts of the Affordable Care Act, Obama will not have a successful re-election, or at least as strong. In other words, if this act is claimed to be unconstitutional, then the act will no longer be implemented and the healthcare policies will be reverse to the last original status. However, in my prediction, the act will be claimed constitutional and will lead America into a universal healthcare for many years. Although I predict that the Affordable Care Act will the leading universal healthcare for many years to come, it does not prevent future presidents, congress, and parties to debate for a better healthcare acts. It will be less likely any of these implemented law to be overturned or be eliminated. However, there can be a possibility where some of the less important topic of the affordable care act be eliminated to save money. The last topic is economy, and everything revolves around our economy.  As we can see, Obama’s healthcare reform came from the peak of our harsh economic time. During the harsh economic time, many people are in favor of low cost and free services. Hence, the Affordable Care Act is one where many people will love to be part of. However, the Affordable Care Act is taking a toll in our economy, especially during the crisis in California budget. The future of the economy is unknown, but many people argue our economy is gradually improving. In conclusion, this newly implemented healthcare reform will continue to be debated among our government, and politicians, while the economy continues to proceed in the southward hill.  

It is hard to determine rather or not something will happen, especially things that are created from the government level. With the healthcare reform, we can predict the overwhelming work load and the significantly increase in population for the healthcare providers. This is in result to the current crisis that has haunt the healthcare systems for years, and will continue to be overwhelmed. However, the main question that still persist; will our economy adjust to the newly implement healthcare law, and is the newly implement healthcare law constitutional. There cannot be a clear cut answer of yes or no, and there is no say what we will see. Hence, we can only predict what people can control such as the ratio of medical staff to patients; and not what we cannot, such as politics and their chess game. 

Shomaker, S. (2011). Preparing for health care reform: Ten recommendations for academic health   centers.Academic Medicine , 46(5), 555-557. Retrieved from             http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2011/05000/Commentary__Preparing_for_H     ealtcar            e_Reform__Ten.11.aspx

Health care crisis. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm

Cohen, T. (2010, March 23). Timeline: When health care reform will affect you. Retrieved from             http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-23/politics/health.care.timeline_1_prescription-drug-plan-health-      care-doughnut-hole?_s=PM:POLITICS

Blog 4: Obama's Affordable Care Act

In the 2008 Presidential elections, candidate Barack Obama key promise is to provide healthcare to every individual in America. In 2010, President Obama’s healthcare package named “The Affordable Care Act” became law. This is a significant change in the United States history of healthcare. Obama’s Affordable Care Act is comprehensive healthcare insurance reforms that will take four years to fully implement and will change many other existing healthcare insurance policies. In this blog, there will be an overview of what the Affordable Care Act is, who does it affect, and what does it mean for our country.

The Affordable Care Act have dramatically changed some of the existing policies and added newer policies. Overall, there are numerous changes, but four of many changes are the most important. The four major categories are: extending young dependent individuals medical coverage on their parents until age 26; admitting more patients into the federal funded insurance plan, Medicaid; admitting pre-existing patients into healthcare insurances; and providing all individuals with low cost healthcare insurance. Although there are many other dramatic changes to the healthcare reform; these top changes that affect both patients and the healthcare world.

One of the dramatic changes in Obama’s healthcare reform is extending the healthcare coverage for young individuals. Prior to Obama’s healthcare reform, young dependent individuals who are under their parent’s insurance policies, may only be insured until age 24. In order to qualify for healthcare insurance under the dependent’s parents, the individual must have a birth certificate to prove   and verify the dependent is the child of the policy holder. Since Obama’s healthcare reform, the insurance coverage is now extended to age 26 with verification proving the status of relationship and verification of a full time college student status. If the dependent is no longer a student or cannot verify they are a full time student status, the coverage is no longer valid. Even though, the new healthcare reform may provide dependent individuals a longer coverage period, but the dependent must be in school to receive such services. Hence, the new healthcare reform may indeed provide a significant benefit for college students under their parent’s health insurance, but it is also a negative effect on those who are not.

Another dramatic change in Obama’s healthcare reform is allowing more patients into the federally funded Medicaid health insurance program. Prior to Obama’s healthcare reform, Medicaid is a federal mandated -state enrolling insurance policy, requiring certain eligibility to be fulfilled.  Medicaid is a requirement based insurance company and not every patient may be eligible. According to the 2007 requirements, Medicaid only enrolls the follow mandatory group: children, pregnant women, seniors, and disabled individuals. Since the Affordable Care Act, states have the ability to continue enrolling patients under the old mandatory guidelines, and additionally enroll patients that have an annual income below the federal poverty line. With Obama healthcare reform, state officials have been given a higher authority in enrolling individuals without the specific mandatory requirement. Such authority results in higher enrollment of individuals with low annual income, but without the mandated requirement to qualify. However, in many states like California, where budget is an issue, there has not been an increase in enrolling individuals onto Medicaid. Hence, many individuals will be enrolled based on the pre-Obama’s healthcare reform, while other will have some sort healthcare insurance by the new reform.

In addition to enrolling more individuals through Medicaid, the new healthcare reform made enrollment of patients with pre-existing conditions mandatory. This mean insurance companies and healthcare providers cannot turn down any patients with any sort of medical conditions. Prior to the new healthcare reform, insurance companies and healthcare providers had the rights to refuse insuring patients with pre-existing conditions. For example, if a patient has been diagnosed with cancer, there will be zero healthcare insurance coverage by any company or healthcare providers. This is due to the fact that the possibility of surviving is low; therefore, insurance companies and healthcare providers cannot sustain the cost for treatment. The insurance companies or the healthcare providers believe the amount of money paid by the patient is not equal or greater than what the overall cost of the treatment may be. Hence, 99% of the time, pre-existing condition patients are turned away. However, with the new healthcare reform, it is illegal for any insurance company or healthcare provider to reject any patient with any pre-existing conditions. Even though if a patient is diagnose with cancer, and is not expected to survive, that patient must be treated by any healthcare provider of their choice. In addition, all cost must insured within the tier similar to other patients who are insured prior to an existing condition. Lastly, if the patient indeed passes away with the pre-existing condition, all cost must be deducted by half or may be paid in full by the healthcare provider. This is one of the few reforms that are benefiting for all people in the United States. No matter how sick a person may be, there are treatments available and no one will be turned away.

Overall, Obama’s healthcare reform is revolving under one major goal, affordable healthcare insurance for all individuals in the United States. Although, there are many new individuals are now insured by the new reforms, such as: the new Medicaid regulation and all pre-existing condition patients must be insured. However, there are many more remains uninsured with any sort of healthcare insurance. Thus, the primary portion of this reform is to provide low costing healthcare insurance. Since the passing of the Affordable Care Act, there are various insurance and healthcare companies competing to offer the lowest cost to the individuals. This is a significant breakthrough for many individuals who can afford healthcare insurance. Even though the Affordable Care Act provides healthcare insurance to all individuals in the United States, there should not be any problems. However, the main issue now is how the healthcare system can provide all individuals with healthcare services. If every patient is insured and is constantly using the healthcare system for emergency and non emergency services, the system will be overwhelmed.  Prior to any reforms, there is a demand in increase of nurses, doctors, and any medical staff. After the reform, patients grew in numbers, while the number of nurses, doctors and medical staff stayed the same. Hence, the overwhelming demand for medical services does not meet with the number of staff that can provide the necessary medical aid. In short, there are millions of new insured patients using their medical insured services, but the healthcare system remains the same. Hence, there are more patients than healthcare system personnel and resources. In conclusion, the Affordable Care Act may provide affordable insurance to individuals, but the healthcare systems cannot sustain overwhelming needs of service.

The Affordable Healthcare Act is an act that had both the Republican and Democratic parties fighting and debating. There are many people who oppose this act and at the same time there are many people who are in favor of this act. No matter how strong one person’s take on this act may be, the act have passed and the people of United States will now have to live by it. The act may have benefited many people in the United States, but at the same time the act have harmed many others. For example, majority of the uninsured population are now able to be insured, but the negatives are the increase of workload and overwhelming patient in the healthcare provider. Hence, poor quality services, and patients are not receiving the full medical attention they deserve. However, vice versa, healthcare providers are now required to serve all people with or without insurance, which would benefit patients with pre-existing conditions. Nevertheless, the Affordable Healthcare Act has positives and negative affects in our country, but in the end, all comes down to our economics and politics in play.       

            

Blog 3: Cutting Edge in Protecting Individual Health in America

Healthcare reform has never settled with a strong structure of medical coverage for the people of the United States. Until 1965, President Lyndon B Johnson enacted a law that would change the course of medical coverage and health insurance. The new cutting edge programs were called Medicaid and Medicare.  Medicaid and Medicare were created for the American people providing a primary solid structure of American health insurance. The signing of Medicaid and Medicare into law is a historical landmark event that changed people lives significantly. Since the signing of the original signing of Medicaid and Medicare, many presidential administrations continue to reconstruct the coverage to be more beneficial to patients. This blog will primary focus on the differences between the two types of insurance, and the affect on patients and the healthcare system.

Medicaid and Medicare are two different medical insurance policies, and both insurances are based on different group of people in the United States. Medicaid is a federal funded program that requires states to cover a mandatory group of people. Included in this mandatory group are: children, pregnant women, seniors, and individuals that are with some kind of disabilities. Although this is the mandatory group of people that the federal government required; the federal government also gave the states the authorization to insure certain groups that is not within the mandatory group, such as orphan children, or single individuals that lives below the poverty level. Even though the mandatory group of people are eligible, this group must also pass the two exceptional standards that are set by both the federal and state government.  First, each individual or family must show proof of an income that is below federal poverty level and second, providing proof of significant financial need to the state. However, states may give admission to groups that does not satisfy the eligibility requirement (disabilities), because the group satisfied with the two exceptional standards set forth by the federal and state. Medicaid is not meant for individuals who are above the poverty level, without disabilities, or for those who could afford medical insurance. Medicaid is for the population with disabilities, and for those who cannot survive to pay for their own medical insurances.

Medicare is also a federal funded insurance program that serves three types of population. Medicare serves the population of citizens who are sixty-five and older, sixty-five and older with disabilities, and all ages with end-stage renal disease. Medicare is a premium package that allows eligible group to choose the best package for their health. Medicare is divided into four parts, and each part has different type of medical coverage. Part “A” is hospital coverage; all expense that is allocated within a certain amount days will be insured and no extra cost to the participant. For example, if an individual is hospitalized for two weeks for whatever reasons, all medical expense will be covered. The individual will not receive a bill to pay, because Part “A” of Medicare covers 100% of all cost up to sixty days. Part “B” is outpatient coverage; all expense that is allocated through programs, treatments, devices, and related items are insured. For example, an individual with hip replacement requires physical therapy, and a wheel chair for recovery, therefore all of these costs would be considered out of hospital cost, which are covered by Part “B” of Medicare. Part “A” and “B” are the premium package that all individuals have the rights to use when individuals are eligible. In addition, individuals would have the option to enroll in Part “C” and Part “D” coverage. Part “C” is a plan that is similar to both Part “A” and “B”, but instead of receiving and paying for all services. Part “C” allows the individual to pick and choose the private insurance company, type of services, and type of cost to be covered. This part is considered as the advantage plan which helps save money on services that will never be used. However, Part “C” will not cover any services that are not purchased; therefore individual will be billed when a service is not coved. Lastly, Part “D” is a plan that subsidizes the cost for prescription medications. For example, a prescription medication of thirty Zantacs pills would originally cost $60.00, but with Part “D”, the cost results at $10. Part “D” is a significant addition to the premium package. Medicare is an insurance plan that would insure many more individuals, and insure individuals to the best of each individual needs.

Medicaid and Medicare are two different types of insurance policies. When Medicaid and Medicare were created, healthcare systems prefer to accept one over the other.  Hence, individuals have limited choices and preference in selecting a suitable healthcare provider. However, over the years, through many presidential administrations, limitations, regulations and policies are enacted to prevent healthcare system from avoiding treatments. For example, under President Ronald Reagan, COBRA was implemented requiring employers to provide medical insurance to employee, and required all healthcare system to accept any type of health insurance coverage. With such changes, individuals can select their preferences in healthcare provider. In addition, individual can receive the best qualities and services by healthcare professions. In present day, under President Obama new healthcare reform, many individuals can expect to be accepted in all sorts of medical insurance policies including Medicare and Medicaid. Even with such changes, Medicare and Medicaid have already changed the lives of many people in the United States and will continue to change the lives of many more.    

Blog 2: History of the Healthcare Reform

The United States of America have one of the most prestige healthcare facilities, technologies, and staff. Even though United States is one of the best nations in healthcare breakthrough, but our country is not the greatest in healthcare policies. Since the birth of the United States in 1776, it took one hundred and thirty-six years to establish a general healthcare policy. Since then, healthcare reform is one of the most controversial topics on many presidential agenda. In this blog, there will be a historical timeline of the healthcare reform and highlights of some of the most popular presidential decision regarding healthcare.

The first attempt to introduce a general healthcare policy was in 1912, under the Progressive leader, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s Universal Healthcare Bill guaranteed medical coverage to all Americans. Roosevelt also used this healthcare proposal to earn him a ticket into the oval office as the 32^nd President. However, during this time, World War I was emerging, and majority of the American were bracing for war. In addition, the Red Scare of 1919 made people more hesitant to adopt a new socialized healthcare insurance policy. Therefore, Theodore Roosevelt bid for presidency was over, and his healthcare policy was also defeated by President Woodrow Wilson. The first attempt in passing a universal healthcare policy failed due to the outbreak of war and the scare of communism.

The second attempt to introduce a healthcare policy was in 1927 by President Calvin Coolidge. President Coolidge’s healthcare policies started with a country wide investigation into the American healthcare system which concluded: private insurance can offer healthcare insurance to their patients, and have higher taxes to support healthcare. Coolidge’s investigation provided a great recommendation, in which to insure all Americans into a healthcare plan, but the overall situation of this policy was to support his re-election into his presidency against Herbert Hoover. Coolidge was not re-elected as president, however, his recommendation of private insurance prevailed. Many Americans were able to purchase health care insurance through private health insurance company.  In 1929, the stock market crashed and the number of American who afforded health insurance did not continue to fund their policies.  By the end of 1929, the stock market crashed and the start of the Great Depression cause the failure of the second attempt in establishing an universal healthcare policy.

The third attempt of a healthcare policy was designed and campaigned by President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR). In 1935, FDR’s Social Security Act was passed, and the act provided safety for the sick, senior citizen and disabled. In addition to the Social Security Act, FDR also passed the National Health Insurance program. The program helped American to afford low cost health insurance and helped the economic recovery after the Great Depression. FDR’s healthcare policies were the turning point in our healthcare system, the beginning of healthcare debates throughout the years to come. 

Since President Franklin Roosevelt’s healthcare policies, many presidents have developed additional policies or have added clauses and exclusion onto preceding healthcare policies. President Truman endorsed the Murray-Wagner-Dingell bill in 1945, which would include unlimited access to of healthcare for those who are hospitalized. This bill never made it pass congress, however Truman’s backup plan to provide patients sixty days (Sixty Day Plan) of free hospital care to social security recipient was enacted. Truman’s backup plan was an addition to FDR original Social Security Act. Twenty years later, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson extended on Truman’s Sixty Day Plan and created Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare and Medicaid are in place to provide coverage for the elderly, provide states with federal grants to cover medical cost and providing nursing home services for the poor. In addition, Johnson required both Medicare and Medicaid to create an alliance between medical institutions and private insurance companies in order to provide adequate medical service. Since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid by Johnson, United States finally have a stable Healthcare policy, and was in a state of stabilization for quite some years.

For almost a decade since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid by Johnson, American was had stabilization in the healthcare system. In 1976, under President Jimmy Carter, his administration developed a new Health Security Plan. The Health Security Plan of 1976 constituted employers to offer health insurance and expanded the coverage of Medicare and Medicaid. However, under Carter’s Health Security Plan, many businesses close down and bankrupt, since due to the high cost of covering health insurance for their employees. Hence, a recession in the United States occurred until Ronald Reagan took office in 1980. Under Ronald Reagan’s Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985 (CORBA), United States was able to crawl out of a short recession. The act provided former employees of a workplace to continue their healthcare insurance coverage after leaving the job. In addition, CORBA provided employer tax credit to support the employers’ funding of their employees healthcare insurance. Reagan’s policies were similar to Carter’s, but economically well balanced. Since the Reagan Administration, healthcare between 1990’s to present day is a highly controversial topic dealing with both economy and type of people being coverage.

In the early 1990’s, under the Clinton Administration, many Americans have lost both their job and healthcare insurance. During this time period, healthcare policies remained the same since the Reagan Administration: but the uprising of unemployment and uninsured American patients gradually increased. President Clinton acted quickly to decrease unemployment rate and uninsured American patients by enacting the Health Security Plan of 1993. The Plan would provide every American with a "Health Security Card" to ensure access to care, and approving Medicaid waivers allowing states to expand to uninsured groups. However, this plan never won the approval of congress and was immediate thrown out. In 1996 when President Clinton and Congress approved the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which restricts use of pre-existing conditions in health insurance coverage determinations. In addition HIPAA sets standards for medical records privacy, and establishes tax-favored treatment of long-term care insurance. The passing of HIPAA, gave American the opportunity to gain medical insurance through multiple sources, such as private hospital insurance companies (Kaiser, Sutter), and third party insurance companies (BlueShield, Anthem). After President George W Bush took office, the Bush Administration did not enact any new healthcare policies that would change the current policies that were set forth by the Clinton Administration and by all of the previous administration. Prosperity in the healthcare world remained at the same level since 1996 throughout the entire Bush Administration.

In present day, under the Obama Administration, President Obama has ultimately changed the healthcare policies from all preceding policies. In early 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. The act was a highly controversial and had congress fighting among themselves and within each individual parties. The act contain policies that would never been passed years before, dating back to Theodore Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge. Under Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act all Americans and individuals without citizenship in the United States would: be guaranteed universal insurance coverage, Medicaid will expand to the poorest income class, all low and middle incomes will have access to affordable cover via employment, extending young adult coverage within parental insurance policies and no healthcare insurance company can denied insuring anyone with any pre-existing condition or lack of money. At first glance, this act is a winning act that many American will desire to have. However, the battle within the legislative branch was brutal and harsh. Congress argued about the funding of insuring all American, and how can the United States have the resources sustaining  the projected population that would be flooding into the healthcare system. In conclusion, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was enact into law with a vote of 219-212. The act also requires the commitment of all insurance companies, and hospital companies to cooperate, as the act requires a four years, and approximately cost $940 billion dollars to successfully implement. Up until today, many Americans and lawmakers questions about the act and how funding can be allocated in a time of economic woes.

Healthcare may have started as early as the birth of the United States, but the actual Healthcare reform first started in the 1900’s. Throughout many years, our government have debated, and fought over many type of policies and reform regarding healthcare in the integrity of American health. Majority of the time when policies, plans and acts are turn down are due to funding and popularity. However, in modern society, healthcare reform will always remain a nasty debate and a debate that will have parties divided. No matter how our legislation enact laws, the healthcare reform will always be rewritten and changed, affect every individual that resides in the United States of America.

References

Khan, Fazal, "Towards Achieving Lasting Healthcare Reform: Rethinking the American Social Contract"     (2009). Scholarly Works.Paper 559. http://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/559

Fuchs, V. (1996). Economics, values, and health care reform .86(1), 1-24.

Kronick, R., Goodman, D., & Wennberg, J. (1993). The marketplace in health care reform -- the      demographic limitations of managed competition.1993(328), 148-152.

Health care crisis. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm

Cohen, T. (2010, March 23). Timeline: When health care reform will affect you. Retrieved from             http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-23/politics/health.care.timeline_1_prescription-drug-plan-health-      care-doughnut-hole?_s=PM:POLITICS

Health care in america. (n.d.). Retrieved from             http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/HEALTHTIMELINE0907.html

Townsend, R. (2002, February 23). Has a national health program been put before congress?. Retrieved    from http://www.historians.org/projects/GIRoundtable/Health/Health4.htm

BLOG 1: Healthcare Reform: A Social Problem

Social Problem: The Healthcare Reform


The Healthcare Reform is a title for one of many items on President Obama and his administration’s agenda. Within the Healthcare Reform, is the legislative bill named “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” which became law in March, 2010. At first glance seems to be a solution to our healthcare problem we have in the United States. Instead, this act turned out to be a highly debated topic that splits our legislative into two parties, and our population became more opinionated. The problem that our legislative parties and the population face with this act is the cost of the new Healthcare Reform, the number of people affected, and the overload of the healthcare system.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a successful law that is implemented and many Americans have benefited. The act is successful for forbidding medical insurance company from discriminating seniors, adults, young adults and children with “Pre-existing Condition (PCIP).” According to HealthCare.gov, the new pre-existing condition insurance plan is defined by the following, “Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) program-- to make health insurance available to millions of Americans denied coverage by private insurance companies because of a pre-existing condition.   Coverage for people living with such conditions as diabetes, asthma, cancer, and HIV/AIDS has often been priced out of the reach of most Americans who buy their own insurance, and this has resulted in a denial of coverage for millions. The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is designed to address these challenges by offering comprehensive coverage at a reasonable cost (HealthCare.gov)”. Patients with existing condition will no longer be paying all expenses in full out of their own pockets, and will no longer stress over being discriminated. According to the statistics on HealthCare.org, nearly 50,000 patients will have some kind of medical insurance supported by either state or federal programs. In addition, PCIP includes a subdivision clause, which allows young adults up to the age of 26 years old to continue to be supported onto their parents’ existing medical insurance. According a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics; showed, over 2.5 million young adults under some kind of medical insurance from the state or federal government. In addition, Samuel Shomaker, a Medical doctor, and the author of “Preparing for Health CareReform: Ten Recommendations for Academic Health Centers, proved, “PPACA will ensure that 93% of Americans have health insurance (Shomaker, 555)”. This is only the introduction to this Healthcare Reform, and yet more that 50,000 pre-existing patients; more than 2.5 million young adults, and 93% of Americans have already benefited by having health insurance under the new health law.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a successful law that is implemented and many Americans benefited, however the cost of this act is proven to be highly significant. Eric G. Neilson, author of the journal, “the Debate Over Health Care Reform: Houston, We Have a Problem, claimed, “To pay for insurance reform, we must either accept real reductions in health care costs or be willing to pay higher taxes or higher copayments for low-value clinical services, or some combination of all three (Neilson, 2849)”. Since,  many patients in the United States with Pre-existing Condition are now allowed to be insured, but patients will be paying an amount cost when patients are visiting, checking up, or to be treated. In addition, medical insurance companies, such as the major hospital medical insurance group like Kaiser Permanente or Mercy, will have to find ways to compensate the cost to their operation since the law required medical insurance companies to subsidize their cost. By deferring cost from the general operation to subsidize medical insurance, patients will see an increase to copayments and a decrease in services. On similar note, the increased amount of newly accepted patients in the medical insurance companies, overcrowding and increase of workload will continue to put stress in the emergency department throughout the nation. According to Samuel Shomaker, a Medical doctor, and the author of “Preparing for Health CareReform: Ten Recommendations for Academic Health Centers,” outlined, “Before the passage of PPACA, the consensus was that the United States would face a shortage of between 100,000 and 200,000 physicians by 2020.4 The increased demand for services created by 32M new insurance beneficiaries will exacerbate this shortage considerably (Shomaker, 555)”. Prior to the law our medical system is at a shortage of physicians and nurses. With the new law, the shortage of medical doctors and nurses is stretched even thinner. Hence, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will continue to be costly for patients, healthcare system and on our economy. Most importantly our healthcare system will have an overwhelming and a heavier load for physicians and all medical staff.


The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is now law and our future follows the course that set forth by this act, no matter it is worth it or not. Since, Samuel Shomaker proved 93% of Americans have health insurance due to the new law, and claimed the medical system will have a shortage of physicians. Hence, the future priority of our healthcare system is to ensure fully staffed and well trained physicians. According to Samuel Shomaker, he recommends a similar solution to this problem, “Recommendation 2: AHCs must look for ways both to expand the number of physicians who are being trained and to shorten the time needed to produce fully certified doctors more quickly (Shomaker, 556)”. This recommendation does not mean our society must produce physicians with the minimum qualification for a doctor. Instead, this recommendation suggests that we must find a much more productive way to produce physician faster, but with the maximum qualifications and knowledge that can ensure definite patient care. In addition, it is better to create facilities that are in use for actual patients to be “teaching health centers” for physicians during their residency. In this case, a particular medical system can be staffed by well trained physicians and intern physicians. In result, intern physicians can be promoted into an environment which they are familiar and continue to provide a high quality standard for patients within the same medical system.


The Healthcare Reform is a multi-level, complex topic that ordinary citizen will not understand to the fullest. This blog touched on the basic topic that affects every individual in the United States, no matter what race, color, gender or status. It is clear that the basic of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to provide medical insurance for the uninsured individual. In addition, the blog covered the positives of this act and yet negative that affects all individual. However, the multi-level complex topic that I did not cover in this blog is the in depth cost to different types of medical insurance companies, and how each company can affect the treatment of each individual. In conclusion, this is an introductory blog on the Healthcare Reform. There will be more in depth information about the Healthcare Reform, such as the historical information; another in depth view of cutting edge solution to accommodate the number of new patients; and what different roles that the federal and the state government played. These are topics for the upcoming blogs, and by the end of the fifth blog, readers should be able to fully understand the Healthcare Reform that is appointed by Obama Administration.

Work Cited

Neilson, E. (2009). The debate over health care reform: Houston, we have a problem . Personal Perspectives, 119(1          2849-2850. Retrieved from http://www.jci.org/articles/view/40995/pdf

Shomaker, S. (2011). Preparing for health care reform: Ten recommendations for academic health centers.Academic Medicine , 46(5), 555-557. Retrieved from                 http://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2011/05000/Commentary__Preparing_for_Healtcar                e_Reform__Ten.11.aspx

Cohen, R., & Martinez, M. (2011, December). 2.5 million young adults gain health insurance due to the affordable     care   act. Retrieved from http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2011/YoungAdultsACA/ib.shtml