HCS/235: Health Care Delivery in the U.S. Health Care Reform
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) was designed to decrease health care costs and require health care access to all U.S. citizens. The Act has the potential for reducing the cost of health care in the United States; however, with many risks which could possibly strain the health care system, increase debt, and decrease the quality of care many are concerned.
Access to Care
The PPACA was enacted in 2010; however, the Act was not completely implemented right away. The health care reform has been dispersing provisions as the years progressed. Provisions such as simply investing in new resources to fight against fraud, waste, and abuse in government sponsored programs such as Medicare and Medicaid will strengthen the quality of the programs and also protect taxpayer’s money. Under the Affordable Care Act—young adults are allowed to continue in their parents’ health insurance plans until they reach twenty –six years of age, unless the young adult has health care insurance under their own employer. In the past, medical health insurance companies have denied payments for patients who got sick. Incidents where breast cancer patients were found to have lost medical coverage from their insurance companies after diagnosed with the major disease. The Act makes this action illegal for insurance companies to rescind medical benefits.
The purpose of the PPACA is to provide health care services to all Americans, whether through government programs or employer–offered health insurance plans. The Act provides small businesses and some large businesses with tax credits for providing health care benefits to their employees. Huge investments are placed into prevention. Preventing diseases and illnesses with free preventative care to individuals will impact the costs of emergency room claims from individuals who wait until their diseases or sickness