Assignment

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is believed to be the most important health care legislation enacted since the idea of Medicare and Medicaid came along. The aim of the ACA is to have better care, better health and to be cost-effective. According to Nash, Fabius, Skoufalos, Clarke, & Horowitz, "The central objective of the law is to improve healthcare quality and access to care while lowering healthcare costs" (2016, p.213). The affordable care act specific initiatives are to:

1. Expand coverage,
2. Hold insurance companies accountable,
3. Lower health care costs,
4. Guarantee more choice, and
5. Enhance the quality of care for all Americans.

("Affordable Care Act", 2018)

Currently, president Donald Trump and Congress wants to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The goal is to have an overall approach to expand access to coverage by requiring most U.S citizens and legal residents to have health insurance. There are multiple provisions of the Affordable Care Act such as individual mandate will require U.S citizens and legal residents to have qualifying health coverage. If an individual decides not to have coverage, then they must pay a tax penalty of "$695 per year up to a maximum of three times that amount" ("Summary of the Affordable Care Act", 2013).

In the year of 2017, results from polls on the view of the public about ACA varied. The public was split in its assessment of the ACA, but the majority of the people approved than disapproved of the law. In a survey, 57% of the people believed that the federal government should play a major role in improving the U.S health care system, "whereas 26% thought it should play a minor role and 15% thought it should play no role at all" (Blendon & Benson, 2017, p. 2).

In my opinion, the government needs to let all Americans decide what they want to do about their own health insurance. I see both sides of the token. My son and I have health insurance and we are doing great with our coverage. However, my husband did not have insurance for a brief period of time in 2017. Now we need to pay the government a fee because he did not have insurance for a couple of months. It feels like the government is forcing many families to make a decision or pay for things we do not want to. This is a free country, this is the reason why I came to this county, to have freedom, to do whatever I want with my money. It feels like everything is falling apart when it comes to health care coverage and insurances. Hopefully, in the years to come, we as future Advanced Practice Nurses can truly come up with a system that will work for all Americans.

References

Affordable Care Act (February 15, 2018).

Blendon, R. J., & Bensons, J. M. (2017). Public Opinion about the Future of the Affordable Care Act. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(9).doi:10.1056/nejmsr1710032

Nash, D. B., Fabius, R. J., Skoufalos, A., Clarke, J., & Horowitz, M. R. (2016). Population health: creating a culture of wellness. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Summary of the Affordable Care Act. (2013).