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Affordable Care Act
A current law that impacts the delivery of human services is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. The legislation (most commonly known as the Affordable Care Act but also referred to as "Obamacare") basically overhauls the existing healthcare statutes and is aimed specifically at reducing the number of Americans who are not covered by health insurance. The White House explains that when the law is fully in place (in 2014) insurance companies will no longer have "unchecked power to cancel you policy, deny your child coverage due to a pre-existing condition, or charge women more than men" (White House). Another rationale is to make preventative care available to Americans; in fact as of June, 2012, more than 86 million Americans have enjoyed preventative care "free of charge" (including mammograms for women and wellness visits for seniors) (White House). Moreover the law has helped 6.6 million young adults who, because of the law, can stay on their parents' healthcare insurance policies until they are 26 years of age (White House).
Reliable Sources Available to Cover the Law's Implications
There are multiple reliable sources from which to gather information about this major change in the way the healthcare services are available in the United States. The law's implications are spelled out very clearly by the federal website www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov (National Center for Biotechnology Information / National Library of Medicine / National Institutes of Health) (Rosenbaum, 2011).
The Act "…establishes the basic legal protections" that up until now have not be available to citizens; that is, the Act is a "near-universal guarantee of access to affordable health insurance coverage, from birth through retirement" (Rosenbaum). When the law is fully implemented, an estimated 94% of Americans will be covered with health insurance.
The five main aims of the Act include: a) to achieve "near-universal coverage" for Americans through "shared responsibility among government, individuals, and employers"; b) to improve the fairness, the quality, and the affordability of health insurance coverage; c) to improve the value, the quality, and the efficiency of healthcare coverage while at the same time reducing "wasteful spending"; d) by providing preventative healthcare services; and e) to make "strategic investments in the public's health," by expanding clinical preventative care and by making community investments (Rosenbaum).
The Act basically represents an effort to "reframe the financial relationship between Americans and the healthcare system" in order to try and come to grips with the "…crisis that has enveloped individuals, families, communities, the healthcare system and the
Also, insurance companies no longer can simply drop the coverage of an individual because they got sick; and insurance companies can no longer put "a lifetime cap on the dollar amount of coverage" a person can receive, nor can they raise a person's premiums with "no accountability" (White House).
How will the law affect day-to-day operations within human service organizations?
The human service organizations that are impacted by the Affordable Care Act are the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals that provide service to people with insurance. The White House explains that the Affordable Care Act will cut red tape for physicians and other healthcare providers. It simplifies rules for eligibility and healthcare claims by establishing guidelines and rules that are expected to save physicians "an estimated $14.8 billion"; it is also expected to save up to $3.6 billion for healthcare providers by using "electronic billing" rather than paper transfers (White House).
The Affordable Care Act has funded an "Innovation Center" which has to date introduced 17 initiatives involving more than 50,000 healthcare providers. Those initiatives are expected to reduce the costs for doctors and will "…touch the lives of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in all 50 states" (White House). Also, hospitals nationwide will be paid based on the quality…
Works Cited
Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Civil Rights -- Laws and Regulations
Enforced by Office of Civil Rights. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://www.hhs.gov.
Frank, John. (2013). Sen. Phil Berger spreading bad healthcare information, policy experts say.
Charlotte Observer. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://www.charlotteobserver.com.
9, 2013, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://www.whitehouse.gov.
The White House. (2012). Fact Sheet: The Affordable Care Act: Secure Health Coverage for the Middle Class. Retrieved February 9, 2013, from http://www.whitehouse.gov.
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