Module 04 Course Project - Healthcare Reform in Two States
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Running Head: Introduction to American Healthcare Act
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Introduction to American Healthcare Act
The Introduction of the American Healthcare Act
Tia Branden
2.16.21
The Introduction of the American Healthcare Act
Introduction
The American healthcare Act was introduced as a bill in response to medical challenges facing the United States of America (Rosenbaum, 2017). The bill was passed by the United States house of representative, but congress did not pass the bill. The statement was appealed, introduced, and give in 2017 May when the republican took government. The bill impacts Medicaid as it is responsible for offering citizens healthcare insurance in the United States of America. Therefore despite the bill affecting healthcare institutions, the insurance companies had the most significant impact.
The objective of the legislative action
The purpose of the legislative action was to allow flexibility in the establishment of essential healthcare benefits. Removal of the existing federal cap tied on the share of premiums that goes to the insurers’ maintenance cost. To give insurers the chance of changing the tips for five times concerning old vs young as opposed to the current rate, which was three times by then. Reduction in Medicaid payments by use of lower inflation index as a way of considering the welfare of the citizens and drop in the cost of medication (Holahan, Blumberg, Buettgens, & Pan, 2017). Provision of funds to health insurers as a way of stabilizing them to enable them to function effectively.
Challenges being addressed by the legislative action.
The legislative action was motivated by reducing medical expense, which was a burden to local citizens. The cost of insurance was high, which was translating the impact to the citizens hence increasing the cost of living; having the clause that reduces Medicaid payment help in reducing the burden the local citizen’s hade in acquiring medical services ( Adler, Fiedler, & Gronniger, 2017). The government instead introduced a fund that was to support the insurance program to facilitate all the necessary medical exercises despite the reduction in the payment made by the citizens. Therefore, the legislative action of the American Healthcare Act was motivated by the idea of lowering the cost of medical expense on the local citizens by reducing the expected payments made to insure but instead introduced a fund that will maintain higher efficiency in terms of service delivery to cover healthcare medication demand.
Opposing viewpoints for the American healthcare Act
Office of Management and Budget was opposing the legislative action considering their analysis that under the implementation of the law, over 26 million people will lose insurance coverage within one decade, which was not a good move. The reduction of payment on insurance companies as a way of saving the citizens will destabilize health insurance provider, making it hard for them to offer healthcare services effectively. There was a lobby group that insisted that the implementation of the legislative action will add more burden to the government where there was the need for an additional fund to cater for the reduced payment to Medicaid.
American healthcare Act was introduced to lower the burden of medication by reducing the payment made to the insurance program, specifically Medicaid. The action impacts the effectiveness and efficiency of Medicaid in offering healthcare coverage, and more people would be left out of range. Therefore, although the objective was good, the government tried to provide an alternative fund to offset the challenges that resulted in the budget deficit. To come up with better legislative action, the stakeholders need to meet and have a collaborative meeting where better regulations are made and come up with better policies that benefit both parties.
References
Adler, L., Fiedler, M., & Gronniger, T. (2017). Effects of the Medicaid per capita cap included in the house-passed American Health Care Act. Washington, DC: Center for Health Policy at Brookings & USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics.
Rosenbaum, S. (2017). The American Health Care Act and Medicaid: changing a half-century federal-state partnership. Health Affairs Blog.
Holahan, J., Blumberg, L. J., Buettgens, M., & Pan, C. (2017). The Impact of the AHCA on Federal and State Medicaid Spending and Medicaid Coverage: An Update.
MEMORANDUM
TO: The supervisor
FROM: Policy advisor
CC: Departmental chair
DATE: 01/02/2021
SUBJECT: The impact of the Health Care Act on the performance of Medicaid
The legislative action on Health Care Act has a direct effect on the version of Medicaid. Considering that the institution depends on the insurance premium received as payment, a price reduction will hurt the performance of Medicaid in terms of insurance coverage. It is estimated that about 26 million will lose healthcare coverage because of the implementation of this legislative action.
There is a need for a collaborative talk with various government agencies to discuss the negative impact of the passage of the Health Care Act so that each party can understand the best alternative measure to enable the institution to achieve its objective.
Medicaid believes that it protects the life of patients through medical coverage. When the legislation is enacted, the institution will lack adequate funds because of the budget deficit resulting from a reduction in the payment made to the institution. By not covering citizen, the institution will be acting against its ethical and legal requirements.
