Patient Protection Affordable Care Act Paper

PATIENT PROTECTION AFFORDABLE CARE ACT PAPER Name Institution Patient Protection Affordable Care Act. The expected rise in the government’s mandatory spending in the costly healthcare sector keeps on cutting deeper into the tax payer’s money and thus straining the national economy as a result of increased government spending. The only solution to cut on the government’s healthcare spending could only be achieved through a constitutional amendment to the existing health care legislation to a more flexible Act. The proposed act would serve to increase the number of people gaining access to quality healthcare in the United States at an affordable rate while also cutting on the federal government’s expenditure on healthcare. President Obama’s administration implemented the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act 2010 with an aim to streamline the delivery of healthcare services to the American people. The healthcare sector is perhaps one of the most contentious issues in the United States politics that is often characterized by diverse views and perceptions as to how the government should improve the healthcare delivery system. The cost of healthcare services in the United States of America is among the highest in the world and thus limiting the access of millions of people to quality care when faced with medical challenges. The U.S. government spends billions of the tax payer’s money to provide its mandatory Medicare and Medicaid services to the country’s healthcare system. In 2009 the federal government spent 10.4% of the budget in its expenditure costs for Medicare and Medicaid. The $676 billion spent in that year as Medicare and Medicaid costs were expected to increase by 10% over the next decade an upward trajectory expected to run up to the year 2020 (Kimberly, 2018). The number of American citizens with access to medical or health insurance was significantly low before the enactment of the PPACA legislation in 2010. The low number of the medically insured legal citizens of the American population adversely affected their access to the emergency services which are very important to the well-being of the population and equally expensive at that. Emergency room services account for approximately a third of the United States health care costs arising from the high rate of visits to the important medical services. Reduction of the expensive costs of emergency room services would reduce the amount spent by both the American citizens and the federal government on health care services. The PPACA legislation was amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act containing reforms aimed at improving the healthcare delivery system of the United States. Under the federal health reform legislation of 2010, the government aimed at increasing the accessibility to health insurance, emphasize on prevention and wellness, improving the quality and performance of the healthcare system, expanding the health workforce, and cutting in on the increasing healthcare costs (King, 2011). Increasing or expanding the accessibility to health insurance would be achieved through the wide range of affordable insurance choices offered through the legislative platform. Improving the quality of performance of the health care system would entai...