Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Healthcare Analysis

This article analyzes the positive and negative elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its impact on the future of healthcare in the United States. It also discusses potential reforms and challenges in the U.S healthcare system.

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PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND HEALTHCARE
ANALYSIS
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INTRODUCTION
The United States healthcare system is complex yet has undergone various
reforms to ensure that the majority of the citizens receive affordable healthcare. The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also known as ACA is a law that was passed
in 2010 but most changes occurred during 2014 and 2016.
POSITIVE ELEMENTS
The ACA provides for preventive care such as screening for diabetes and cancer.
According to Menke, Casagrande, Geiss & Cowie (2015) the prevalence of diabetes has
increased by 12% therefore screening services would help in prompt diagnosis of such
cases. The act contains the element of covering the essential health benefits such
emergency services, maternity and newborn care and prescription drugs. This is
important as the benefits provide for the primary healthcare needs in the population. The
third benefit is coverage for preexisting conditions such as heart attack, kidney failure,
diabetes and liver fatty disease. This would ensure that the insurance companies did not
exempt such patients from benefitting from the ACA.
NEGATIVE ELEMENTS
The insurance companies increased the premium costs for ACA.This implies that
citizens will have to bear the burden of increased health premiums yet the taxes are also
high. The ACA provided guidelines that those who were not covered in any insurance
cover or exempt were taxed. This appears like a forced plan on those who would prefer
not to be covered. Turner (2017) states that the additional tax in the ACA totals to one

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trillion dollars which translates to a heavy burden as the citizens and small businesses are
expected to contribute these hefty taxes.
FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE IN U.S
Healthcare system definition after studying healthcare is that the government is
formulating policies to favor its citizens to provide primary healthcare in pooling together its
resources. The initial definition was that out healthcare system is broken as it is driven by profit.
The country holds most resources in the world, most cutting-edge technology & pharmaceuticals
in the world yet the American citizen cannot get medical care due to not having health insurance.
The difference is that the government is passing laws that ensure that majority if not all have
insurance covers while there are subsidized and options to choose from. This also includes
various challenges such as high-income tax, high premium costs and taxing those who don’t
choose an insurance cover that need to be dealt with.
U.S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IN 10 YEARS
Reforms such as a law to regulate pharmaceutical companies which have been in the
limelight over sale of drugs with low efficacy while ensuring essential drugs such as antihepatitis
are costly (Trooskin, Reynolds & Kostman, 2015). Potential research areas are the cancer
treatment options that involve molecular biology. This means production of chemicals which are
friendly to the cells but harm the cancer cells due to the adverse effects of current chemotherapy
regimen. A suggestion for improvement would be incorporate healthcare training with latest
technology. Austin, Bentkover & Chait (2016) states shortage of physicians calls for training of
medical professions who are acquainted with technology.
CONCLUSION

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The ACA provides for majority of American citizens to access healthcare yet its
challenges have to be corrected promptly. The healthcare system in United States has potential
growth but with support from the government and other stakeholders.

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REFERENCES
Austin, J., Bentkover, J., & Chait, L. (2016). Setting the Stage: Today’s Healthcare
Challenges. In Leading strategic change in an era of healthcare
transformation (pp. 15-24). Springer, Cham.
Menke, A., Casagrande, S., Geiss, L., & Cowie, C. C. (2015). Prevalence of and trends in
diabetes among adults in the United States, 1988-2012. Jama, 314(10), 1021-
1029.
Trooskin, S. B., Reynolds, H., & Kostman, J. R. (2015). Access to costly new hepatitis C
drugs: medicine, money, and advocacy. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(12),
1825-1830.
Turner, G. M. (2017). The Failures of Obamacare: Harmful Effects and Broken
Promises. Statement before the US House Committee on the Budget, Washington,
DC, January, 24.