ACA Provisions and Their Influence on Public Health Policies

This essay examines the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its multifaceted impact on public health. It explores the ACA's relationship with key public health pillars such as health policy, public health, care management, and quality and safety. The essay highlights how the ACA has significantly reduced the number of uninsured individuals through various policy changes, particularly focusing on its influence on health insurance coverage, access, and affordability. It delves into the dependent coverage provision allowing young adults to remain on their parents' insurance plans and the implications of Medicaid expansion on coverage, access, and health outcomes. Additionally, the essay incorporates comments on student postings, addressing issues such as access to care for young adults and the complexities of provider participation in public insurance programs. The analysis draws upon several research articles to support its claims, providing a comprehensive overview of the ACA's role in shaping the healthcare landscape.

Running head: AFFORDABLE CARE ACT 1
Affordable Care Act
Name
Institution

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Affordable Care Act
The four pillars of public health include health policy, public health, care management, and
quality and safety. The provisions of the Affordable Care Act, relate to these pillars in a number
of ways. It is important to note that the provision of the Affordable Care Act has massively
reduced the number of people lacking coverage through several policy changes. As presented in
the article by French et al., (2016), it is evident that the ACA relates more with the two pillars of
population health that include public health and health policy. These Affordable Care Act
provisions support a more widespread use of Population Health principles in a number of ways.
Some of these ways are as discussed in this paper.
Overall Health Insurance Coverage, Access, and Affordability
It relates to health policy which is a pillar of population health. According to Sommers et al.
(2012), the number of uninsured Americans has massively dropped in recent years since the
introduction of the ACA. In fact, there have been significant improvements in the access of
affordable care, primary care services, and self-reported health among others. It has been
additionally reported that the expanded coverage has made it much easier for patients to gain
access to physicians.
Dependent Coverage Provision
The ACA under the young adult mandate allows individuals aged between 19-25 years to remain
in their parent’s health insurance plans. There has been a noteworthy increase in the insurance
coverage among the young adults since the introduction of this provision. As reported by
McMorrow et al. (2015), there has been a decrease in the number of young adults lacking

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coverage from 30% in 2009 to just 19% in 2014 implying that only around 6 million young
adults remained uninsured by 2014.
Medicaid Expansion
Expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act affects insurance coverage on different
levels that include affordability, access to care, health outcomes, and utilization among others.
The expansion of Medicaid improves coverage and reduces the rates of uninsured individuals
(Olson, 2015). Among the low-income population, it has also affected utilization of services, the
access to care, financial security, and affordability of care.
Comments on the Student Posting
I think that it is important that the young adults are knowledgeable regarding access to care
during a period of transition when they are still trying to go through college or settling in new
jobs. This access is made possible due to the fact that they can still remain under the insurance
plans of their parents until they turn 25. I can confidently say that providers may be reluctant in
participating in public insurance programs since some physicians may not be willing to accept
Medicaid beneficiaries because of the rates of reimbursement as mentioned by the first student.
I also believe that the insurance companies are not supposed to deny coverage based on
preexisting conditions. Instead, they can vary the insurance rates based on a number of factors
such as the family size, rating area and age among others. We can keep the beneficiaries of these
plans healthy by ensuring that they have adequate care which also the financial burdens on both
the individual and the society at large.

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References
French, M. T., Homer, J., Gumus, G., & Hickling, L. (2016). Key provisions of the patient
protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA): a systematic review and presentation of early
research findings. Health services research, 51(5), 1735-1771.
McMorrow, S., Kenney, G. M., Long, S. K., & Anderson, N. (2015). Uninsurance among young
adults continues to decline, particularly in Medicaid expansion states. Health
Affairs, 34(4), 616-620.
Olson, L. K. (2015). The ACA Medicaid Expansion Waiver in the Keystone State: Do the
Medically Uninsured “Got a Friend in Pennsylvania”?. Journal of health politics, policy
and law, 40(3), 599-611.
Sommers, B. D., Buchmueller, T., Decker, S. L., Carey, C., & Kronick, R. (2012). The
Affordable Care Act has led to significant gains in health insurance and access to care for
young adults. Health affairs, 32(1), 165-174.