Has the ACA improved access to care?

Asked by: Arnulfo Bednar II  |  Last update: September 4, 2025
Score: 4.4/5 (5 votes)

The ACA has generally been associated with significant improvements in access and affordability and increases in outpatient utilization among low-income populations, but changes in inpatient utilization and health outcomes have been less conclusive.

Has the ACA improved the quality of care?

Improvements in community health centers – The ACA also provides for improving the quality of our care by strengthening the nation's network of community health centers and testing new methods for delivering services, for example, coordinating care among physicians and community resources.

How did the ACA improve public health?

The ACA's decade of progress ensures access to both affordable health care coverage and no-cost clinical preventive services for the majority of Americans and has helped lay the foundation for better health outcomes, disease prevention, and health promotion activities.

How does the ACA make healthcare accessible for everyone?

Premium and cost-sharing subsidies based on income are available through the Marketplace to make coverage more affordable for individuals and families. People with very low incomes can also find out if they are eligible for coverage through Medicaid and CHIP while shopping on the Marketplace.

How has the ACA affected health care providers?

For physicians and patients, the expansion of coverage presents an opportunity to improve patients' access to care and nurture the doctor-patient relationship. The ACA has also posed new challenges, like narrow “provider” networks, tight prescription drug formularies, and high cost-sharing responsibilities.

Has the ACA Medicaid Expansion Been a Success?

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What is the biggest problem with the Affordable Care Act?

Impact on Individual Insurance

It was also known that consumers would face a very different health insurance world under the ACA, with some people seeing their premiums go down and some seeing them go up, and the majority of Americans seeing higher deductibles, higher copays, and a smaller pool of providers.

How did the ACA attempt to improve access?

The ACA uses two primary approaches to increase access to health insurance: It expands access to Medicaid, based solely on income, for those with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and creates eligibility for those with incomes from 139% to 400% FPL to apply for subsidies [in the form of advance ...

What did Obama do for health care?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.

Why is affordable and accessible healthcare important?

Affordability impacts whether people can get the care they need, like insulin to manage their diabetes or following up on a mammogram. If those are too costly, people will delay or skip care, which has significant impacts down the line on both health outcomes and cost.

What impact has the ACA had on health disparities?

The ACA has reduced racial/ethnic disparities in coverage, although substantial disparities remain. Further increases in coverage will require Medicaid expansion by more states and improved program take-up in states that have already done so.

In which three ways did the Affordable Care Act affect individuals?

The Affordable Care Act significantly impacted individuals by ensuring women were not charged more than men for health insurance (A), allowing access to insurance regardless of health status (B), and mandating that most individuals obtain health insurance (C). Therefore, the correct answers are A, B, and C.

How effective is the Affordable Care Act?

When fully implemented, the Act will cut the number of uninsured Americans by more than half. The law will result in health insurance coverage for about 94% of the American population, reducing the uninsured by 31 million people, and increasing Medicaid enrollment by 15 million beneficiaries.

How to improve access to preventative care?

The number of people getting preventive services has increased in recent years, but there are disparities by age and race/ethnicity. Strategies like providing team-based care and reducing copays can help people get recommended preventive care services.

How did the ACA affect long term care?

The ACA has increased the population of insured U.S. citizens through Medicaid expansion and increase the long term facilities population and Marketplace insurance. Expenditures and reimbursement rates have shown that the ACA has increased Medicaid payments in long-term care.

How did the ACA change healthcare?

The ACA increased access by increasing access to health insurance (employer-based and the Marketplaces for private insurance, Medicaid expansion for public insurance, and all children under the age of 26 years could stay on their parent's insurance).

Who benefited most from Obamacare?

The biggest winners from the law include people between the ages of 18 and 34; blacks; Hispanics; and people who live in rural areas.

What beneficial things did Obama do?

Other domestic policy actions
  • Healthcare reform. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. ...
  • Education. Race to the Top competitive grant program. ...
  • Climate change. Clean Power Plan.
  • Immigration policy. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. ...
  • Social policy. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. ...
  • Intelligence and surveillance policy.

Why was the Affordable Care Act not successful?

Obamacare has increased the cost of health care and health insurance. The ACA's federal mandates and spending, including Medicaid expansion and subsidized individual plans, have drastically increased the cost of health care and health insurance. 2. Obamacare increases Americans' reliance on the federal government. …

How many lives has the ACA saved?

One such study estimated that just during the four years after 29 states expanded Medicaid, roughly 19.2 thousand lives were saved from treatable conditions (such as heart disease and diabetes).

How did the ACA affect nursing?

Opportunities for Nurses to Impact Access to Care

In addition to expanding scope of practice for APRNs, the ACA placed increased emphasis on primary and geriatric care to provide support to underserved populations and decrease disparities.

What do doctors think of the Affordable Care Act?

Forty-three percent of physicians believed the ACA has had a negative impact on the affordability of health insurance coverage and 34 percent believed the ACA had a negative impact on the ability of their practices to meet patient demand (Exhibit 3).

What states refuse Obamacare?

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was enacted in 2010, but 10 states have not expanded Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health care for low-income people. They are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Who is exempt from Obamacare?

If you're seeking an exemption because you can't afford coverage, you're a member of a federally recognized tribe, you're incarcerated, or you participate in a recognized health care sharing ministry, you have two options: The exemptions can be claimed when you complete your federal tax return.