Health Reform in the United States of America

Health Reform in the United States of America
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January 3, 2020
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in 2010 (Chait & Glied, 2018). ACA tackled public health objectives through launching the latest programs and facilities that are fixated solely on public health and increasing its funding for the current programs CITATION HHS19 \l 1033 (HHS.gov, 2019).Many significant elements rendered ACA essential in public health.
First, this act enabled private and public companies to endorse health insurance at a state level. Moreover, this health law offered marginalized individuals and other households up to approximately 400% of the low-income people with subsidies to aid them in availing health insurance. ACA extended its coverage to households with earnings up to 135% of the national deficiency, making health care more affordable. This amounts to approximately $35,000 for a family of four. Through ACA, the availability of more affordable health plan led to a decrease in uninsured individuals to around $20 million (Mclntyre & Song, 2019).
Second, insurance companies are given full responsibility by decreasing the amount allotted to premium insurance. 86% of the companies’ income will primarily be allocated to improve health care services. Moreover, by January 1, 2011, ACA served to eliminate all Medicare discrepancies that led to overspending (Reeve & Institute of Medicine US, 2014).
Third, it covered a broad spectrum of diseases and disorders including improvement of ambulatory patient facilities and emergency programs, mother and infant attention, mental health institutionalization and substance abuse disorders, behavior health treatments, prescription drugs, rehabilitation packages and amenities, laboratory packages, preventive and wellness deals, treatment of chronic diseases, and pediatric services, as well as oral and eye care (Center, Woods, Manchikanti, & Purdue Pharma, 2017).
Last, the establishment of the National Prevention Council and Prevention Fund aid in the progress of public health. The Council created a national strategy that sponsored health in all agencies by developing a “health in all policies”. It is governed by the counseling panels in the Department of Health and Human Services (Bovbjerg, Ormond, & Waidmann, 2011). Some of its foci are to reduce substance abuse and promoting a healthy diet and to lessen injury-and-violence-related incidences, as well as mental and emotional health. By contrast, the Prevention Fund made an unceasing and extended nationwide security by allotting fifteen billion U.S. dollars. This allowed the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advocate for some of the national health issues. These include Tips from Former Smokers campaign and the National Diabetes Prevention Program. However, its funding was decreased by $5 million in 2012 and became fully regulated by Congress in 2016. Correspondingly, the budget was further decreased by approximately $3.5 billion due to the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act (Chait & Glied, 2018).
The health transfo...