How the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Fits (or Does Not Fit) With the Recommendations

Whereas so many recommendations on health reforms have been made over time, not all have cooperated into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This federal act is aimed at enhancing healthcare provision and the health of individuals by making health affordable and expanding the Medicaid program. Some of the provisions are incompatible with the recommendations described above.

The PPAC act places great emphasis on the affordability of healthcare and has placed measures to reduce health insurance costs as well as expand the Medicaid program remarkably. By placing subsidies on the cost of insurance through premium tax credits as well as cost-sharing reductions, this act successfully reduced the cost of these insurances, making them affordable to many people. Medicaid eligibility has also ensured that many people are insured (French et al., 2016). These provisions from this act are in concert with some recommendations to improve insurance coverage by reducing the cost of insurance and expanding the Medicaid program.

The act also outlines reforms in the delivery systems. This includes all reforms that are targeted at lowering the cost of services while improving the quality. Encompass adoption of information technology in various hospitals such as electronic health records, coordination of care, as well as all measures to reduce hospital-acquired infections. These provisions are partly in concert with the recommendations. They, however, do not fully address some of the recommendations. Provisions of improving hospital information technology, for instance, are not fully addressed in this act, with the action focusing on an individualized hospital approach rather than the federal and state approach advocated for by some stakeholders. However, the provisions remain helpful as they enhance the efficiency to the hospitals that have adopted these technologies.

The act under the delivery system reforms highlights the need to coordinate care and includes the establishment of a Centre for Medicare and Medicaid innovations that are targeted at promoting research on health care. This provision is particularly important and has been attributed to various technologies that are available in the mainstream of care currently. However, it is not fully in concert with the recommendations postulated by other stakeholders. The scope of this program is rather narrow and does not provide the financial freedom that is much needed to carry out research activities.

Healthcare reforms are intended to improve the health of people by enhancing health services delivery. These reforms are postulated by governments, groups, and even at the individual level. Various interest groups have proposed a set of recommendations that needs to be adopted by the federal government. These recommendations touch majorly on health innovations and health insurance. The compatibility of these recommendations with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is, however, varied, with some fully in concert while others are partly in concert with these recommendations. However, most recommendations have been shown to promote health by improving service delivery.

References

Adepoju, O., Preston, M., & Gonzales, G. (2015). Health Care Disparities in the Post–Affordable Care Act Era. American Journal Of Public Health, 105(S5), S665-S667. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2015.302611