The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on North Carolina's Uninsured Population
Although there is often political pressure to create programs that increase access to services, these programs often are unfunded mandates. The expansion of insurance coverage is directly linked to health care costs, and controlling these costs presents a tremendous challenge. This week’s readings present information on cost evaluation; potential trade-offs related to cost, quality, and access; and financial and economic principles that apply to cost evaluation in delivering health care services. An example of the difficulty of addressing these competing interests can be seen in a case study concerning "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on North Carolina’s Uninsured Population". This Assignment focuses on ethical, financial, and quality of care aspects surrounding the issue. Read the case study about "The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on North Carolina’s Uninsured Population" To complete this Assignment, write a 3- to 5-page paper that addresses the following: Explain the impact of the Affordable Care act on the population that it affected. Explain the impact of the economics of providing care to patients from the organization’s point of view. How will patients be affected in relationship to cost of treatment, quality of treatment, and access to treatment? What are the ethical implications of this act for both the organization and the patients?
Affordable Care Act North Carolina
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has the ability to increase the health care coverage of more than 47 million persons across the states and more than 1.6 million in the state of North Carolina, who do not have health insurance. Since the year 2007, more than 16.5% of North Carolinians have reported that they do not have access to a doctor due to the increased costs. Health insurance premiums have increased by more than 55%, which averages to around $13,000 yearly. With reference to the median household income, this figure accounts for more than 30%, thus it is quite steep. For the persons who are holding their individual health policies, their premiums have increased by more than 37%. Out of all the North Carolinians that have health care coverage, barely half are covered through their employers. On average more than 10% of the North Carolinian children are not insured across all the income clusters (Charlotte.cbslocal.com, 2013). This figure later increased to above 14% for the children in families below the federal poverty level. More than 47% of the elderly above the age of 65, who are living in families that are below the federal poverty level, are uninsured (Kff.org, 2014).
The ACA provides the platform for coverage across all the income levels including the low income earners. With the Medicaid eligibility expansion for the adults, the ACA serves as a vehicle for the low income earners while at the same time providing premium tax credits. This helps people to access health insurance through the marketplaces. With the Supreme Court ruling in the year 2012, it became optional for states to expand Medicaid. North Carolina is still arguing whether or not to expand, meaning that millions of people who would have been eligible for the health cover are locked out (Kff.org, 2014). For a long time Medicaid has had some gaps in coverage due to the fact that it has had restrictions for some specific categories within the low income bracket. The ACA would come to fill these gaps, expanding the coverage to many including nonelderly adults, who are below the federal poverty level.
For the organizations in North Carolina, expanding the coverage through the ACA will have economic influences (Cutler, 2013). Ideally, increasing the number of persons that are eligible for insurance cover means that the organizations will have to spend more in covering a good majority of the staff. The economic bit of the changes is going to be related to the increased taxes, going towards covering the extra staffs and at the same time there will be more contributions to the same (Kff.org, 2014). Given that companies will be forced to pay more for the higher coverage, their hiring power may also decrease (Charlotte.cbslocal.com, 2013). Some of the firms may be forced to reduce their employment rates and at the same time may have to revise their spending on salaries, which will lead to less promotions and payment packs increases. Part time jobs may also increase, in an effort to cut down on spending, with the fulltime workers. However, according to the projections depicted in the ACA implementation, the cost of health is bound to reduce, with the reduction in the premiums by the employers. This will translate in healthier workers and thus increased productivity, which benefits the employers economically (Cutler, 2013).
Persons who are not insured could highly benefit from the expansion provi...