Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) became law March 23ed, 2010; Since then several aspects of nursing have changed. The law has brought millions on uninsured population access to healthcare. Most of the changes were made in efforts to ease the relationship between individuals and insurance companies. Principally, the government’s goal was to take power away from insurance companies, so people could choose a provider of preference and co-pays (Giaimo, 2013).  Since the law was implemented, there has been negative and positive impacts for the nursing practice, the uninsured and insured, and health economics.

 Impact on Nursing

PPACA emphasizes in bringing more nurses to the field by creating programs for future nurses and nurses advancing their careers. Since patients seeking for health management is increasing, $11 million dollars will be given to school-based programs to inject interest to individuals entering the nursing field.  The problem now is that there are not enough schools or the schools are taking too few students. Consequently, the graduation rates are low. There is obviously an increased load of patient and increase wait times in our local emergency rooms. According Cheney, people like to go to the emergency room because it is more convenient, and they do not have to make an appointment. Cheney states that the newly insure patient will wait until the problem gets out hand to visit the ER and in consequence admission to the hospital (Cheney, 2014, p. 5).

Impact on Uninsured Individuals

The primary goal of the PPCA was to get everyone insured with the lowest possible premiums. Since the law was passed, many American now have access to care. Yet the bill is not as low as it was planned. It mandates that small business and large corporations to give health insurance benefits to all employees. Before, it was elective for an individual to accept or refused company’s health insurance, but now is a requirement by law to be insured. There is a penalty that is paid in the yearly taxes if uninsured for more the six months out of the year. The fee depends on the family size and yearly income of the person. Overall, the law has somewhat benefited the uninsured. We can now see people that would try to stay away from doctors and hospitals paying more attention to their health. Again, the hard working population seems to always take the punch since they pay the PPACA premiums (Giaimo, 2013).

Impact of insured individuals

Pharmaceutical companies are required to offer 50% discount of name brand medication. The change will attract patients from forcedly taken generic medication imposed by insurance companies. A patient should be allowed to pick the medication they want and not the one is imposed or targeted for insurance. Furthermore, individuals with pre-existent conditions will not be denied access to care. Also, insurance premium would not increase due to chronic disease such as COPD or congestive heart failure. The law also gives the opportunity to choose the physician of preference. Before, insurance dictated what doctors individual could see, now patients has the opportunity the go to the “out-of-network” provider and select the healthcare of choice. In addition, dependent child can stay in the parent’s insurance until the age of 26 which add two extra years to the dependent (Rosenbaum, 2011, p. 131). Young individuals in their twenties still advancing education goals or entering to the job force. Young adults usually start at an entry level low paying jobs.  The law gives a leeway to have insurance access while transitioning to the new lifestyle until they can afford to pay premiums on their own.

Impact on health care economics at the local and national levels.

The US seems to spend more in healthcare than any other country, but results still are the same. At the local levels, hospitals and doctor office visits volume has increased. At the national level, the program will cost $1.27 trillion which double the previous budget.  The increase is attributed to the expansion of Medicaid recipients. Since the reimbursement of Medicaid recipient is considerably low, many physicians are refusing to see Medicaid patients because it is not cost effective. Furthermore, insurance premium will have increased due to the lack of control the bill has (Tanner, 2013). So the initial proposal of having low insurance premium is non-existent. At the economic level, employers will upset the cost of giving benefits to employees by offering lower wages (Hofer, Abraham, Moscovice, 2011).

            In short, PPAC law has its negative and positive advantages. It has brought a great percentage of people awareness about their health. It is very satisfactory to know that people are getting the help they need. The only drawback is that the waiting times has increased because they are not enough nurses and physicians to take care of the amount of patients seeking for healthcare. There have been incentives to bring qualified healthcare workers to the workforce, but many do not know about it, plus there is not enough schools to train new nurses. Also, the law has certain reimbursement plans for diseases that doctors are having to work harder, layoff personal and pay significant low wages. Overall, the law should be more comprehensive, so at the end everyone will benefit from it.

References

Cheney, C. (2014, October). Hospitals turn to data to gauge PPACA impact. Health Governance Report, 24(10), 4-5. Retrieved from http://db04.linccweb.org/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.db04.linccweb.org/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lincclin_cfcc&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA384781203&asid=0bfef0dbdd0577ef32c3ba6ab703221c.

Giaimo, S. (2013). Behind the Scenes of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: The Making of a Health Care Co-op. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy & Law, 38(3), 599-610. doi:10.1215/03616878-2079532.

Hofer, A., Abraham, J., & Moscovice, I. (2011). Expansion of Coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Primary Care Utilization. The Milbank Quarterly, 89(1), 69-89. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.db04.linccweb.org/stable/23036196.

Rosenbaum, S. (2011). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice. Public Health Reports (1974-), 126(1), 130-135. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.db04.linccweb.org/stable/41639332.

Tanner, M. (2013). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: A Dissenting Opinion. Journal of Family and Economic Issues.  34(1), 3–15.   doi:10.1007/s10834-013-9350-7.

Several Project were completed during the course: