Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act and Medicaid
The Affordable Care Act and Medicaid
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act
Expansion of Medicaid Affordable Care Act was put in place by President Obama in 2010 providing Americans access to affordable health insurance. But, our gov. Nikki Haley, the Republican Party are still rejecting the Medicaid expansion for the state of South Carolina. My paper has detailed information on why governor Haley and Republicans made their decision to opt out of the expansion. Also, alternate approaches to expanding access to care and implement or consider the state’s decision of opting out of the expansion. Two contrast approaches for comparison will be provided initiative for Medicaid expansion. Finally, recommend to the state legislature to convey opting out of Medicaid expansion. South Carolina without Medicaid Expansion In …show more content…
There were changes made by the United States federal government make significant changes to the health care system. The expansion of Medicaid was more so for; lower-income, poor and children’s population. The reason for South Carolina to opt out of the Medicaid expansion because it will affect employers, a taxpayer, and the health industry due to increasing of federal funding that represents unambiguous benefits to South Carolina (SCHA, 2012). One of the challenges are increasing funding for the spending of new sources on the outside may not exist for South Carolina. The outside spending is a big economic component for growth, export, manufacturing, and national firm. Therefore, due to the increasing federal funding, South Carolina made the decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion (SCHA, 2012). This will increase federal funding in South Carolina choice to opt into Medicaid expansion to provide jobs and more income is the effect of the decision …show more content…
The state opting out for certain provisions of Affordable Care Act that include a requirement of minimum coverage, employer contribution and coverage for a dependent adult up to insurance age of 26. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (2016), “The Affordable Care Act provides a variety of optional state funding grants to pay for or implementation of specific provisions of the ACA.” The House Republicans passed Obama alternative budget for the Medicaid expansion for the state budget. This plan is put in place to help bring health care cost down in the form of government expenditure (SC Policy Council, 2013). These principals measure means: 1) The state will pay low-income hospital 35 million for non-emergency needs from ER and funded clinics 2) It will pay 10 million to the clinic for consequent
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
The leadership’s decision not to expand Medicaid leaves between 300,000 and 400,000 South Carolinians without health insurance (South Carolina Medical Association, 2012). The stated intent of the Affordable Care Act, pejoratively dubbed “Obamacare” by its critics, was to put affordable health care within reach of more of the 40 million Americans who lacked health insurance. The law’s grand design included an assumption that states would expand their Medicaid programs, since the federal government would pay 100 percent of the expansion costs through 2016, and 90 percent thereafter. But in demonstrating its traditional mistrust of Washington’s promises, Columbia declined the offer and, in the process, left thousands of low-income workers without the means to obtain health coverage, either because they cannot afford the premiums or because their employers do not provide it. (Advisory Committee, 2013). Ironically, in a state where the median annual income is $44,600, South Carolina’s working poor earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid; however, they would be covered under the ACA model (Hailsmaier and Blasé, 2010).
During the study of various reforms that were proposed and denied, both the GOP and Democrats attempted to find a balance that would guarantee the success of their proposals. Years of research, growing ideologies, political views and disregard for the country's constitution sparked an array of alternatives to solve the country's healthcare spending. The expenditure of US healthcare dollars was mostly due to hospital reimbursements, which constitute to 30% (Longest & Darr, 2008). During the research for alternatives, the gr...
In December 2011, Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) received federal approval of a Medicaid Section 1115(a) Demonstration Waiver, entitled “Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program,” for the period starting with December 12, 2011 through September 20, 2016. The main objective of the 1115 Waiver is to improve access to and quality of health care by expanding Medicaid managed care programs and promoting health care delivery system reforms while containing cost growth. Specifically, the Waiver created two new pools of funding—Uncompensated Care (UC) and Delivery System Redesign and Innovation Payment (DSRIP) pools—by redirecting funds that were available under the old Upper Payment Limit (UPL) payment methodology.
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
Under the Affordable Care Act one of the most important provisions is to expand health care to low income families through Medicaid. This could have an effect on over eight million people who do not have access to health care currently. However 25 states have decided against expanding Medicaid benefits, leaving 13.5 million people less likely to receive basic health care and preventative ...
Crowley, Ryan A., and William Golden. "Health Policy Basics: Medicaid Expansion." Annals Of Internal Medicine 160.6 (2014): 423-426. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Implemented (along with Medicare) as a part of the Social Security Amendments of 1965, Medicaid’s original purpose was to improve the health of the working poor who might otherwise go without medical care for themselves and their families. Medicaid also assisted low income seniors with cautionary provisions that paid for the costs of nursing facility care and other medical expenses such as premiums and copayments that were not covered through Medicare. Eligibility for Medicaid is usually based on the family’s or individual’s income and assets. When the ACA came into effect in 2010, it began to work with the states to develop a plan to better coordinate the two ...
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by President Barack Obama is a significant change of the American healthcare system since insurance plans programs like Medicare and Medicaid (“Introduction to”). As a result, “It is also one of the most hotly contested, publicly maligned, and politically divisive pieces of legislation the country has ever seen” (“Introduction to”). The Affordable Care Act should be changed because it grants the government too much control over the citizen’s healthcare or the lack of individual freedom to choose affordable health insurance.
Medicare and Medicaid together "are the single biggest contributor to [the United States] long term [budget] deficit." This idea was expressed by President Obama during his 2011 state of the Union Speech. After saying this, the president said that health care costs need to be reduced, including these two services. Medicare and Medicaid are beneficial to those who receive their services, and the criteria for eligibility currently allow many to qualify for either program. This is most likely the cause of the major deficit that the president spoke of. However, downsizing or eliminating these programs to lessen the deficit will affect many people and their ability to receive healthcare.
The author identifies some of the federal and state legislators that are also opposed to the Medicaid expansion in the writer’s district. US Senator John Cornyn says that the Obamacare Medicaid expansion program is formed to be wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive to the nation (Cornyn, 2010). According to US Senator Cornyn, “The $3.4 trillion federal taxpayers spend on the Medicaid program is a target for waste, fraud, and abuse. Instead of fixing these problems, the President’s new health care overhaul includes the largest expansion of the broken Medicaid program since its creation in 1965: it’s only going to get worse from here” (John Cornyn, 2010).
Medicaid is a broken system that is largely failing to serve its beneficiary’s needs. Despite its chronic failures to deliver quality health care, Medicaid is seemingly running up a gigantic tab for tax payers (Frogue, 2003). Medicaid’s budget woes are secondary to its insignificant structure, leaving its beneficiaries with limited choices, when arranging for their own health care. Instead, regulations are set in order to drive costs down; instead of allowing Medicaid beneficiaries free rein to choose whom they will seek care from (Frogue, 2003)
Medicare and Medicaid are programs that have been developed to assist Americans in attainment of quality health care. Both programs were established in 1965 and are federally supported to provide health care coverage to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, the disabled, and people with low incomes. Both Medicare and Medicaid are federally mandated and determine coverage under each program; both are run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency ("What is Medicare? What is Medicaid?” 2008).
The United States passed bill that health insurance should be mandatory in the year 2014. Under the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, each person is required to have at least a minimum level of health insurance failure to, the individual will face a penalty. The mandatory health insurance issue has faced reactions from both sides with some people supporting while others opposing. It is mandatory for every individual to purchase a health insurance depending on their earnings. The health care insurance is mandatory for all US citizens, and all legal residents in America. It is considered as an individual responsibility requirement, and those without this insurance are subject to a tax penalty of $750 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount ($2,250) per family. However, there are exemptions for financial hardships, incarcerated persons, religious objections, and undocumented immigrants. Mandatory health insurance is important, and should be applied in all states because, everyone gets ill and at one time, they have to visit a health care facility for medical services. In addition, it protects the health future of families, and protects people from unexpected high medical costs because they are covered.
According to Roy, 2013 the issues of providing the affordable care act will unite both the supporters and offenders of the public policy, but in this current situation where the input costs are rising, it will become impossible for government in managing the public policy related to affordable health care. In order to provide affordable health care, majority of the US government has tried out different policies time to time, but unable to get success in realizing the actual policy goals. By providing the affordable health care to majority of the people who requires more amount as controlling the input cost is not possible (AAMC, 2013). Lack of doctors is one of the primary issue in providing high quality health care to the citizens especially those who are financially poor. The Supreme Court of the country passed an Act related to Health insurance as all should have Health Insurance to all the country people by the year 2014, but the at the same time government is concerned about constitutionality of these act (NYTimes, 2013).