Analyzing the Affordable Care Act: Key Components, Health Economic Theory, and Policy Solutions

PUBLIC HEALTH 1
Public health
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PUBLIC HEALTH
INTRODUCTION
The affordable care act (ACA) otherwise referred to as the Obamacare, came into
existence in March 2010 under the then tutelage leadership of President Barrack Obama (1). One
of the main agenda of the Affordable Care Act was to offer Americans a health care insurance.
So far, there have been several individuals who have been seeking coverage for the Obamacare
services (1). The Affordable Care Act has had several benefits to the Americans as well as
several draw backs. In this assignment, the key components of the Affordable Care Act, the
benefits from the health insurance to the individuals and the society from the Health Economic
theory and policy solutions will be analyzed. Policy solutions in this case refers to proposals on
different approaches that policy makers can utilize so as to address the economic theories
described.
A.The key components of the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act had three major components that include new consumer
protections, improving on the quality of services and lower the costs and finally increasing
access to healthcare.
New consumer protections.
The Affordable Care Act was set up with the view to provide new consumer protections
to the citizens of the United States of America. New consumer protections were into two folds:
Prohibiting Discrimination due to the pre-existing conditions or gender and establishing
consumer assistance programs in the states. The aim of the consumer Assistance programs was
to assist the consumers maneuver the private health insurance system, file different complaints

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and appeals, enroll in the health coverage and finally get educated on their rights and
responsibilities in the group health plans or individual health insurance policies(2). The former
initiative was set up to eliminate discrimination in payment of premiums since initially, some
people would pay higher premiums due to their previous health status or gender.
Improving on quality and lowering the costs
Another key component of the Affordable Care Act was improving on the quality of
services and lowering the costs of the services. This is according to a report by Blumuthel et al
(3). This was to be achieved through offering small business Health Insurance tax credits so that
they could offer insurance benefits to their workers. Another way was providing free prevention
care such as the mammograms and colonoscopies. Finally, offering prescription drug discounts
and a crackdown on health care fraud were the agendas under the improvement on the quality
and lowering costs component of the affordable care act.
Increasing access to affordable care
The final component of the Affordable Care Act was increasing access to affordable care
and this was also under two fold initiatives which include extending coverage for the young
adults. Under the federal law, the young adults were allowed to benefit from their parents plans
until they get 26 years. Establishing the health Insurance Marketplace was the other agenda
according to Frean M (4). If the employers did not provide insurance to their employees,
individuals were given a lee way to buy it directly in the Health Insurance (5).