Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, plays a vital role in providing quality and safe care in the United States. Since its enactment in 2010, the Act has achieved many positive benefits, including increased insurance coverage, enrollment of more adults to the Medicaid program, and reduced healthcare costs.
Ever since the Obama administration approved the Affordable Care Act, over 20 million Americans have accessed health coverage who would otherwise be left out. Over the 50% increase reflects private coverage, due to policies such as allowing young adults to stay on parents’ plans, subsidized payments for individual market coverage, reforms to personal insurance coverage, and the obligation requiring every person to have coverage else be penalized (Atkinson & Giovanis, 2015). Besides, the increased Medicaid coverage spurred by expanding the program to cover low-income adults and the ease of enrollment (Eguia et al., 2020). This means that more Americans can now have access to affordable healthcare than it was before.
The Act has also reduced uninsured Americans by a third due to Medicaid expansion, health subsidies, and mandatory payments. Research shows that increased coverage translates to improvements in health care access, financial security, quality care, and health outcomes. For instance, more low-income adults can afford personal doctors, regular checkups, preventive care, and treatment of chronic diseases such as dialysis and access to mental health care (Kim et al., 2020). It means that more Americans can now access care at ease than a decade ago.
Today, fewer people within low-income brackets have screened positive of depression, increased management of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension; improved early diagnosis of cancer; lower mortality rate for patients with end-stage renal disease, and decreased inconsistencies in surgical care. The affordable health care act has also promoted economic mobility (Shaw et al., 2014). Since its inauguration, the Act has allowed better access to loans, including mortgages, auto, and other facilities. With annual interest amounting to $280 per every adult coverage, many individuals in Ohio and Michigan report coverage making it easier for them to work or look for work.
The Affordable Care Act has significantly cushioned over 50 million non-elderly citizens with pre-existing health conditions. Before the ACA reforms took effect in 2014, health plans in the market denied and charged unreasonable premiums based on health status (Wu & Raghunathan, 2019). Consequently, these practices left many uninsured or at the risk of becoming insured if they lost their jobs. When ACA took effect, such approaches were declared illegal, which lead to many people with pre-existing conditions enrolling in individual market coverage.
On the other hand, the act has radically increased the quality of individual market coverage. Usually, the act requires all plans to provide necessary health assistances that meet the needs of people with severe health conditions. As such, it prohibits annual and lifetime lim...