How did ACA impact social determinants of health?

Asked by: Ms. Helen Kozey MD  |  Last update: January 12, 2024
Score: 4.2/5 (73 votes)

The ACA reduced income inequality within and between social determinant of health categories, especially for states with Medicaid expansion.

How does the Affordable Care Act address social determinants of health?

The ACA acknowledges that SDH affects marginalized communities in different ways, and to mitigate their effects, it localizes funding in hopes of empowering individuals and communities, but there is no integrated, multi-prong system for addressing SDH.

How does the Affordable Care Act impact health disparities?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage expansions, including the Medicaid expansion to low-income adults, provide an opportunity to reduce disparities in coverage, which research suggests may contribute to reductions in disparities access to care and health outcomes.

What impact does social determinant have on health?

Social determinants of health also affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. They serve as an underlying contributor to multiple conditions, including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes—as well as health care expenditures and premature mortality.

What is the most impactful social determinant of health?

Perhaps the most powerful social determinant of health is income. All of us have seen too many patients who could not afford their medications, a healthy diet, or a proper place to live—and how this affected their health status.

What Makes Us Healthy? Understanding the Social Determinants of Health

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What determinant has the greatest impact on our health?

The main determinants of health include: Income and social status. Employment and working conditions.

In which 3 ways did the Affordable Care Act affect individuals?

The law has 3 primary goals:
  • Make affordable health insurance available to more people. ...
  • Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL. ...
  • Support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care generally.

Did the Affordable Care Act reduce the deficit?

In keeping with the President's pledge that reform must fix our health care system without adding to the deficit, the Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit, saving over $200 billion over 10 years and more than $1 trillion in the second decade.

What is the Affordable Healthcare Act and what did it aim to provide?

About the Affordable Care Act

Make affordable health insurance available to more people. The law provides consumers with subsidies (“premium tax credits”) that lower costs for households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL).

Why is the Affordable Care Act important in healthcare?

The ACA supports public health prevention efforts. It created the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has paid for public health efforts across the country. The ACA requires insurance policies to cover essential health benefits that can help prevent serious, costly conditions.

How is the Affordable Care Act trying to lower health care costs for people?

The ACA helps to make health care more affordable in two ways: by providing insurance coverage for approximately 50 million people who are currently uninsured and by striving to control health care costs by changing how medical services are paid for.

What has been the impact of the Affordable Care Act?

Since its enactment on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act has led to an historic advancement of health equity in the United States. This landmark law improved the health of all Americans, including women and families, kids, older adults, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ and communities of color.

What problems did the Affordable Care Act address?

  • The ACA protects people with preexisting conditions from discrimination. ...
  • Medicaid expansion helped millions of lower-income individuals access health care and more. ...
  • Health care became more affordable. ...
  • Women can no longer be charged more for insurance and are guaranteed coverage for services essential to women's health.

How effective has the Affordable Care Act been?

Has it improved coverage? Indisputably, yes. More than 20 million people have gained coverage as a result of the ACA. It has dramatically reduced the uninsured rate.

What are some negative aspects of the Affordable Care Act?

Cons:
  • The cost has not decreased for everyone. Those who do not qualify for subsidies may find marketplace health insurance plans unaffordable. ...
  • Loss of company-sponsored health plans. ...
  • Tax penalties. ...
  • Shrinking networks. ...
  • Shopping for coverage can be complicated.

How did the ACA fail to provide access to healthcare for all individuals?

It largely failed. Health insurance markets are only afloat because of massive federal subsidies and premiums and out-of-pocket obligations significantly increased for families. While the ACA has led to about 13 million more people with Medicaid, many more have been harmed.

Why is the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional?

United States Department of Health and Human Services declared the law unconstitutional in an action brought by 26 states, on the grounds that the individual mandate to purchase insurance exceeds the authority of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

Why is the ACA so controversial?

One early controversy concerned whether individuals would lose their current health plans when the new law took effect. Initially, some insured people were taken by surprise when their insurers canceled policies that did not qualify as minimum essential coverage (MEC) under the ACA.

What changed in healthcare with the Affordable Care Act?

It brought about structural changes in the health-care system, which included sweeping efforts to improve access to health insurance through expansion of the Medicaid program and through subsidized and lower-cost health insurance plans made available through new health insurance marketplaces (exchanges), elimination of ...

Who benefits most from the Affordable Care Act?

People with the lowest incomes tended to benefit the most from the law. That makes sense, given how the Affordable Care Act is designed. In states that expanded Medicaid, low-income people can get insurance without having to pay a premium.

What are the three most important social determinants of health?

What are social determinants of health?
  • Economic Stability.
  • Education Access and Quality.
  • Health Care Access and Quality.
  • Neighborhood and Built Environment.
  • Social and Community Context.

What are social determinants of health examples?

Social determinants of health include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care.

What are the top three social determinants of health?

The following list provides examples of the social determinants of health, which can influence health equity in positive and negative ways: Income and social protection. Education. Unemployment and job insecurity.

How has the ACA improved health care?

Coverage Gains under the ACA

The ACA has made health insurance more accessible—particularly for women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. Its provisions, especially Medicaid expansion, have made insurance more affordable and have resulted in substantial gains in health coverage.