Chronic Disease, Prevention & Quality

Healthcare Reform

CHRONIC DISEASE, PREVENTION & QUALITY

Shanise Thornton, Melinda Williams and Christopher Owens

Keller University

Health insurance & Managed Care

June 23, 2011

Abstract

Healthcare reform has a tremendous effect on the economy. This paper will explore the reform as well as its impact on chronic disease, prevention, and quality. Health care reform is thriving to put American families and small business owners more in control of their own health through several initiatives. There are several strengths and weakness within the reform. Employers with more than 50 employees must provide health insurance or pay a fine ... There are several key elements under the reform, one of which is Title IV - Prevention of Chronic Disease and Improving Public Health (Health Reform Details). This provision addresses the issues of costs associated with health care services and is focused on changing the way the services are delivered. Services will be provided for prevention of manageable illnesses.

Healthcare Reform

CHRONIC DISEASE, PREVENTION & QUALITY

There has been a lot of criticism geared towards the reform, however change is inevitable. For decades, the United States has been concerned with the high cost of medical care. The 2010 Healthcare Reform, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, consists of many aspects. We will explore the reform as well as its impact on chronic disease, prevention, and quality.

Overview of the Healthcare Reform Initiative

In order to gain a better understanding of the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 also known as the Health Care Reform, let's highlight key points of the bill. According to the reform, the main objective is to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans in an attempt to reduce the growth in health care spending (George, 2011). The bill is pushing to create a stable healthcare budget, to reduce the deficit by more than one hundred billion dollars over the next ten years (Healthcare Reform Details, 2011). The coverage of this reform is expected to expand towards thirty two million uninsured Americans (Jackson & Nolen, 2010). The health care reform strives to put American families and small business owners in control of their own health by implementing the following provisions:

* Making health insurance more affordable by the year 2014; providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in our nation's history.

* Reducing premium costs for countless millions of families and small business owners who are currently priced out of coverage.

* Setting up a new competitive health insurance market.

* Ending discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions (Healthcare Reform Details, 2011).

The reform will also focus on bridging the gap between the House and Senate bills and it will include new provisions to crack down on waste, fraud and also abuse. The reform will reflect many policies. Some of the key changes that the Reform will tackle are as follows:

* Eliminating the Nebraska FMAP (Federal Medical Assistance Percentage) provision and providing significant additional Federal financing to all States for the expansion of Medicaid.

* Closing the Medicare prescription drug, in other words the "donut hole" coverage gap by the year 2020.

* Increasing protections for out of pocket costs.

* Increasing the threshold for the excise tax on the most expensive health plans from twenty three thousand dollars for a family plan to twenty seven thousand and fifty dollars and starting it in 2018 for all plans (Healthcare Reform Details, 2011).

As you can see, the Health care reform bill has the potential to help the American society with many changes that will start immediately as well as other changes which will start later. Seniors that are affected by the donut hole within the current year shall receive a $250 rebate. However, seniors receiving top shelf prescription brands will receive a fifty percent discount beginning later in the year. One of the major benefit's and outcomes that will come from this reform will be that every citizen is going to be required to have health care which means that the percentage of individuals that are healthy will increase.

Strength and Weaknesses of Healthcare Reform

There are strengths and weaknesses of the Healthcare reform for individuals that live within the United States which include the following:

Strengths-

* Prohibits preexisting conditions exclusions periods for children in all new plans (George, 2011). Therefore, if a child has a pre-existing condition he/she will not be denied for care anymore.

* Prohibits dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans (Uygur, 2010). This will allow all adults to be able to receive care without having to pay too much out of pocket or being uncertain if they will be covered. According to Davenport that passed this bill, this reform will also lower overall expenditures in tandem with deficit reduction which is a good strength (Davenport, 2011). The implementation of the bill will not only lower the overall expenditures but it will eliminate lifetime limits and restrict annual limits on benefits on all plans (George, 2011). By ending lifetime limits on care, patients will not have to worry about their care and coverage being dropped mid way through the treatment.

* Within this reform it will allow college adults to stay on their parents coverage until the age of 26, which is a positive aspect in certain cases for individuals who have not made it on their own as of yet or who need a little more guidance.

Weaknesses-

* Include increasing insurance premiums.

* If the secretary estimates for any fiscal year that the aggregate amounts available for payment of expenses of the high-risk pool will be less than the amount of the expenses, the Secretary shall make such adjustments as are necessary to eliminate such deficits, including reducing benefits,