The sponsors of the affordable care act and how it effects the practice of community health nursing
The affordable care act was a crafted bill by the house of representative of United States in 2009 November. The bill got support from the administration of Obama. The 111 congress ensured that the enactment of the reforms in the health care system of United Sates (United States, 2012).
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The act will not take its full effect up to the year 2014, but its impact is big in the health care system and particularly in the field of nursing. According to (Schmidt, 2011), the law is already creating new opportunities in the area of nursing:
1. High demand of advanced practice nurses
The countrywide shortage of nurses inspired the program for advanced education for expansion of nursing, a component in the affordable care act to set aside $30 million for academic training program for certified nurse midwives and nurses practitioners (United States, 2010).
The funds were for payment for living and housing expenses so the students and their instructors. Nather (2010) asserted that potential income loss and shortage of instructors during training deterred many practitioners from pursuing advanced certificates, and the law is now funding it.
2. Many nurses will operate outside the hospital setting
The pilot project of the law to move the chronically ill out of the hospitals to communities will cut more costs. Moreover, many private insurers are doing thee same. Soon, the outpatient care will look more attractive to the providers hence the need for the ambulatory nurses.
3. Short supply of nurses
The mandate of the law to insurance companies will bring more than ever more patients to the health care system. Therefore, there will be short supply of the nurses. This will give the nurses more choices where d the type of work they do (State Bar of California, 2012).
4. Providers are admitting older patients
A key component of the law is the financial incentives for health care providers attending Medicare patients, increasing demand for generic nurses. Schmidt (2011) pointed out that with the aging population and more financial incentives for the nurses, hospitals need hospice and geriatric nurses.
5. New specialty
The program of pay for performance under the act aims to improve the care quality by giving compensation to the providers based n the outcomes of the patients, and not the amount of service. The program needs following of the complex clinical measures, hence creating more work as noted by United States et al (2012). Meanwhile, workload increase will lead to more opportunities for the nurses, and emergence of a new nursing specialty.
Reasons for the introduction of the change
1. Consumer rights and protection
The act created a new bill of rights to patients that protects citizens from abusive practices such as exploitation by insurance companies. Furthermore, it ended the discrimination from the insurance companies who discriminated conditions such as diabetes, asthma on children. Moreover, the law ended the care limit which some patients in the past with chronic illness like cancer ran out of insurance cover due to the dollar limit imposed by their insurance companies (United States, 2010).
2. Affordable coverage
The new law will help in lowering costs through new market place and tax credits where insurers will need to compete for you. The law will further bring down cost of healthcare by ensuring your money is spent wisely.
3. Better care access
By providing more choices for health insurance, it improves better care access. The insurers by law are required to cover many recommended preventive services like high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. Young adults who cannot get coverage stay under the plans of their parents and the rates are also affordable (Nather, 2010).
4. Strengthening Medicare
The law will strengthen it by fighting fraud, adding more benefits and improving patients care. According to State Bar of California (2012), cost of drugs will be lowered and free preventive services will be offered. Furthermore, while lowering costs, they provide choices.
5. Impact of the new law on consumers
Since its introduction, the law has increased the premiums of the healthcare market hence increasing the cost of healthcare such as the Medicaid and Medicare. Moreover, it affects individuals on the costs of its implementation. Lastly, the law has impacts on the small business on its policy implications on the mandate of the employer, the meager tax credit and the 50- employee threshold (Schmidt, 2011).
5. Analysis of public statements
Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia in a live interview openly disowned the law and stated his intentions of not expanding Medicaid. The reason being his government cannot afford it. This shows how the implementation and the realization of the law fully might be difficult (United States et al, 2012).
References
United States., Washington (State)., & Washington State Library. (2012). Affordable Care Act: Medicaid expansion 2014 : implementation plan. Olympia, Wash.: Washington State Health Care Authority.
United States. (2010). The Affordable Care Act: Protecting consumers and putting patients back in charge of their care. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration.
State Bar of California. (2012). Navigating your path through the Affordable Care Act. San Francisco, Calif.: State Bar of California.
Nather, D. (2010). The new health care system: Everything you need to know. New York, NY: Thomas Dunne Books.
Schmidt, P. L. (2011). Medicare and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Hauppauge, N.Y: Nova Science Publisher’s.
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