The Affordable Care Act

Population Health Policy AnalysisNameInstitutionInstructorCourseDate Population Health Policy AnalysisHealthcare policy involves the development and implementation of rules and regulations to govern a nation’s healthcare system that consists of healthcare providers, healthcare facilities, insurance providers, and patients (DeNisco & Barker, 2016). Population health policy aims at developing certain policies to enhance access and delivery of healthcare services for a certain population. One of the major objectives of the healthcare sector is to address the health disparities by enhancing access to healthcare services by minority groups (DeNisco & Barker, 2016). Due to the current health disparities among different populations across the United States, some populations are vulnerable to certain illnesses due to their limited access to quality healthcare services. One of the current healthcare policies that is designed to improve a specific population’s access to health and ensure the provision of cost-effective care is the Affordable Care Act (DeNisco & Barker, 2016). Affordable Care ActPresident Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010 with the aim of increasing the number of insured Americans. This law requires U.S. citizens to apply for health insurance coverage and levies a penalty for American citizens who fail to secure health insurance coverage with only a few exceptions (Thompson, 2015). The focus of this policy is on the uninsured populations that largely compose minority and low income population groups by expanding health coverage. This is achieved by providing households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level with subsidies that lower the costs of accessing healthcare (Thompson, 2015). This policy also aims at constraining healthcare costs and improving the quality of healthcare services. Due to the increasing demand attributed to the increasing number of insured individuals, the Affordable Care Act also aims at improving the delivery of healthcare through shared responsibility between the government, healthcare providers, and American citizens (Kominski, Nonzee, & Sorensen, 2017). This will improve cost-effectiveness since healthcare providers can participate by proposing effective innovations to enhance healthcare delivery. This policy is financially sound since it does not incur the healthcare sector any costs rather reduce costs associated with the provision of healthcare through innovative healthcare delivery models (Kominski, Nonzee, & Sorensen, 2017). Although this policy aims will cost the U.S government about 700 billion dollars every year, the benefit of this policy on the economy and health stability of American citizens outweighs this cost. This is because the government may spend more resources in managing poor health outcomes that may also affect the productivity of most populations (Kominski, Nonzee, & Sorensen, 2017). The implementation of this policy takes into account ethical factors by increasing the number of nurses as well as adopting effective healthcare models to ensure that nurses are able to address the increasing demand for healthcare without affecting the quality of healthcare services (Kominski, Nonzee, & Sorensen, 2017). This policy also aims at ensuring health equity in the access of healthcare services to address health disparities due to certain population aspects.Integration of Appropriate State, Federal, and Global Health Policies and Goals Related to Equitable Health Care for PopulationsThe Affordable Care Act is similar to other healthcare policies such as Medicaid and Medicare programs that are aimed at increasing the number of insured populations across the United States (McIntyre & Song, 2019). These programs focus on the vulnerable populations such as low-income adults, elderly adults, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. The Medicaid program was created in 1965 as a public insurance program that is funded by the federal government and the states (McIntyre & Song, 2019). The Affordable Care Act also relates to some of the global health policies as most of them seek to increase access of healthcare services in the aim of improving the overall health of all individuals across the world. According to the World Health Organization, one of the key objectives of healthcare delivery is equity among diverse communities since health inequities jeopardize global health progress (McIntyre & Song, 2019). Health inequalities between developed and developing countries affect global health security and managing certain infectious diseases. The World Health Organization in collaboration with healthcare policymakers in different countries have developed policies to ensure that these gaps are addressed to build sustainable health systems and enhance healthcare delivery across all nations (Glied & Jackson, 2017). One of these policies is universal health coverage that aims at enabling all individuals to access preventive, promotive, rehabilitative, and palliative health services without financial hardship. The Affordable Care Act is effective in enhancing healthcare insurance as is evident through the reports provided on its progress since 2010 (Glied & Jackson, 2017). Most of the individuals in the United States have healthcare insurance coverage and able to access quality healthcare services at an affordable rate. Healthcare providers have also benefited from the innovative healthcare models that ease some of their responsibilities. This has minimized health inequalities across the United States and improved health outcomes which are some of the major goals of tithe healthcare sector (Glied & Jackson, 2017). Advocacy Strategies for Improving Access, Quality, and Cost-Effective Health Care for Diverse PopulationOne of the advocacy strategies that a nurse can apply in ensuring that majority of individuals register for insurance coverage is supporting them through health education to help them understand the importance of this policy (Cherry, 2016). This will encourage them to enroll for health insurance coverage enhancing the health status of the population since this population is venerable to health risks that may negatively affect their health. This will also direct them on the process of registering for the insurance schemes since most of these individuals include the elderly and people with disabilities who may not understand these processes (Cherry, 2016). Another advocate strategy is by collaborating with community leaders to inform and educate the elderly and other individuals on how to access healthcare services through this policy. Collaboration will also help leaders representing these groups to participate in the implementation of this policy to ensure that all eligible individuals participate in this process and benefit from this policy (Cherry, 2016). From a Christian perspective, an advanced registered nurse has a professional and moral obligation to advocate for, promote health, and prevent disease among diverse populations by adhering to ethical guidelines in the provision of healthcare services and in the implementation of any healthcare policy (Chait & Glied, 2018). Nurses should provide healthcare services to all populations without discrimination to ensure that all individuals improve their health regardless their ethnic backgrounds. One of the key ethical guidelines is the principle of justice that requires that all patients receive equal access to healthcare services regardless of the diverse aspects that may prevent some of the patients from receiving the necessary healthcare services (Chait & Glied, 2018). Nurses should use health education to educate individuals on the importance of this policy and the registration process.ReferencesChait, N., & Glied, S. (2018). Promoting Prevention under the Affordable Care Act. Annual Review of Public Health, 39(1), 507-524.Cherry, B. (2016). Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends, & management. St. Louis, Mosby.DeNisco, S. M., & Barker, A. M. (2016). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the profession. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.Glied, S., & Jackson, A. (2017). The Future of the Affordable Care Act and Insurance Coverage. American journal of public health, 107(4), 538–540. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303665Kominski, G. F., Nonzee, N. J., & Sorensen, A. (2017). The Affordable Care Act’s Impacts on Access to Insurance and Health Care for Low-Income Populations. Annual review of public health, 38, 489–505. doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044555McIntyre, A., & Song, Z. (2019). The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade. PLoS medicine, 16(2), e1002752. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002752Thompson, T. (2015). The Affordable Care Act. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Green Haven Press.