ST Thomas University Week 3 Influencing Health Policy Discussion
Thaimy BlandinoWhat components of the ACA do you think will have a positive effect on improving health care outcomes and decreasing costs? “The cost of health care is how much the state or nation spends on health care; the percentage of the total domestic production that health care consumes” (Mason et al., 2016 p.158). As I mentioned in a previous discussion, historically, the recent Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obama Care, “is arguably the most significant piece of social legislation passed in the United States since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.” A reform in the infrastructure of health care was necessary as cost of health care spending was too high and the outcomes far from being the best. “Unfortunately, the United States is neither a paragon of health equity nor of an engaged, effective democracy. Despite per capita health expenditures twice those of similarly wealthy countries, our life expectancy and other health outcomes are worse. This is largely a result of deep racial and economic inequities that produce life expectancy gaps of up to 15 years across lines of race, income, and geography.” (Palmquist, Ben. 2020) Some of the components of the ACA, that I think will have a positive effect on improving health care outcomes are: “The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), this institute was created to examine clinical effectiveness and the appropriateness of different medical treatments, the overall goal is to fund research that will assist patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other in making informed health decisions” (Mason et al., 2016 p.161). More access to primary care for Americans will also have a huge impact on improving health care outcomes. The ability to take care of one’s health in a primary setting will have better results for one’s health over time and significantly impact healthcare overall. When it comes to decreasing costs, “the ACA will reduce projected federal spending on health care by $109 billion between 2014 and 2024. (Mason et al., 2016 p.181). Here are some of the components that will help reduce care costs, according to (Mason et al., 2016). 1. Medicare will pay less for durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers, and oxygen equipment because of a mandated competitive bidding process for the supplies. 2. Medicare will phase out the extra payments it was making to insurers who offered Medicare Advantage Plans.3. Medicare will pay a lower annual increase in hospital, home, skilled nursing, and hospice care. 4. Penalizing hospitals if they have excessive 30-day readmissions and hospital-acquired infections by reducing their Medicare reimbursement and providing an incentive for them to improve the quality of care. 5. Implementing aggressive Medicare/Medicaid fraud and abuse prevention measures, which are projected to save the federal budget $7 billion over 10 years. Understanding all the changes and how they impact the health care system and nursing overall is primordial in nursing leadership and policymaking. ReferencesMason, D. J., Gardner, B. D., Outlaw, H. F., & O’Grady, T. E. (2016). Policy and Politics: In Nursing and Health Care. (7th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Saunders.Palmquist, Ben. (2020). Equity, Participation, and Power: Achieving Health Justice Through Deep Democracy. 10.1177/1073110520958863 Reply