The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, has provided access to health insurance for millions of Americans and made it illegal for insurers to discriminate against people with preexisting conditions.
However, these gains are at risk with President Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This has prompted numerous physicians and nurses to leave their profession.
1. Doctors
President Obama signed into law comprehensive reforms that will transform how Americans access and utilize health care. Beginning January 2014, these reforms include ending pre-existing condition discrimination by prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions or setting lifetime caps; in addition, insurance providers must spend 80% to 85% of premiums directly on actual care or refund the difference back to customers as refunds.
The Affordable Care Act will gradually transform how Medicare compensates physicians by moving away from rewarding quantity of services delivered and towards rewarding quality. This includes reducing payments for high readmission rates as well as incentivizing physicians who treat a large share of medicare patients.
2. Nurses
The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare, has created significant change within healthcare. New patients are entering healthcare systems across the country due to Obamacare; thus increasing demand on nurses. While some nurses may lament an increase in patient loads due to Obamacare, others welcome it wholeheartedly.
Nurses have an opportunity to improve healthcare efficiency by employing cost saving strategies. Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) are healthcare networks focused on providing cost efficient yet quality care to populations over time; nurses are vital in increasing financial return for ACOs by coordinating, communicating, and facilitating high quality patient care (Collins & Saylor, 2018).
Nurses also have an opportunity to have an impactful impact on healthcare by engaging politically. Nurses can join nursing associations that incorporate political action into their missions or campaign for causes at the state legislature – this can help improve healthcare overall.
3. Nurse Practitioners
As more Americans gain access to health insurance, nurses have seen an influx of new patients seeking care at nursing facilities. Unfortunately, many are sicker and require more attention than anticipated to improve; thus leading to long wait times at some facilities and backlog of patient visits.
Demand has also skyrocketed for auxiliary health care providers like nurse practitioners. These advanced-practice registered nurses (APRN) possess either a master’s or doctorate degree and can practice primary care independently from physicians in states that allow this.
These NPs offer services including immunizations, screenings and geriatric care; treating chronic illnesses; managing acute illnesses; helping reduce costs in retail clinics or vulnerable communities. Furthermore, they make referrals to specialists while coordinating care with other providers – something the Affordable Care Act has encouraged states to do by expanding the scope of practice for APRNs; furthermore states may consider innovative models of healthcare delivery for better delivery of care.
4. Doctors and Nurse Practitioners
Reddit is an extremely popular forum website with discussions ranging from languages and culture to politics and public policy. One of its most active subreddits, r/healthcare, serves as an active discussion space dedicated to healthcare issues relating to medicine such as insurance coverage, patient rights identification and potential political policies that impact this field.
The Affordable Care Act was an important tool in expanding access to affordable health insurance and reforming the market, giving those with preexisting conditions coverage and protecting them from being exploited by insurance companies.
ACA has had an enormous effect on healthcare by altering attitudes toward nurses and other auxiliary medical professionals. Long gone are the days where physicians or nurses had to dress a certain way or conform to rigid appearance guidelines in order to be taken seriously; now thanks to this legislation healthcare workers are freer than ever in terms of appearance while they perform their jobs. The ACA has helped create an inclusive world in which healthcare providers can express themselves more freely – wearing whatever styles of hair or clothes suit them while they work.
