How does the Affordable Care Act ACA directly prevent chronic disease and improve public health?
Asked by: Rogers Bauch | Last update: April 20, 2025Score: 4.5/5 (6 votes)
How is the ACA part of the problem or part of the solution to improving health care delivery in the US?
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 ...
How does the Affordable Care Act protect patients and healthcare professionals?
If you get sick, an insurance company cannot cancel your policy. Health insurance companies cannot turn down your application because of your health status. Women can no longer be charged more for insurance than men. In fact, insurance rates cannot be based on gender or gender identity at all.
How does the Affordable Care Act ACA attempt to reduce health and health care disparities?
It did so by expanding Medicaid to people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level (the poverty level in the continental U.S. is $15,060 for a single individual in 2024); creating new health insurance exchange markets through which individuals can purchase coverage and receive financial help to afford ...
Does ACA focus on disease prevention?
Prevention and Public Health Fund: The Affordable Care Act makes an unprecedented investment – $15 billion over 10 years – in health care programs and providers to prevent disease, detect it early, and manage conditions before they become severe.
The Affordable Care Act and Public Health
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.
What is ACA preventive care?
Most plans must over a set of preventive services – like shots and screenings – at no cost to you. For example, depending on your age, you may have access to no-cost preventive services such as: Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests.
How has the ACA improved 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.
What is the Affordable Care Act ACA explained?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a comprehensive reform law, enacted in 2010, that increases health insurance coverage for the uninsured and implements reforms to the health insurance market. This includes many provisions that are consistent with AMA policy and holds the potential for a better health care system.
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.
How does the Affordable Care Act affect patient healthcare access?
Gaining insurance coverage also increased the probability of having a usual place of care by between 47.1 percent and 86.5 percent. These findings suggest that not only has the ACA decreased the number of uninsured Americans, but has substantially improved access to care for those who gained coverage.
What is the main purpose of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 according to the professor?
The first—and central—aim is to achieve near-universal coverage and to do so through shared responsibility among government, individuals, and employers. A second aim is to improve the fairness, quality, and affordability of health insurance coverage.
What is the Protecting Healthcare for All Patients Act?
485, the Protecting Healthcare for All Patients Act, to prohibit the use of “quality-adjusted life years” (QALYs) and similar measures in determining coverage and cost under Federal health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.
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.
Who benefits most from the Affordable Care Act?
The biggest winners from the law include people between the ages of 18 and 34; blacks; Hispanics; and people who live in rural areas.
How does the ACA control healthcare costs?
The ACA requires insurance plans to cover essential health benefits, limits out-of-pocket expenses, and expands Medicaid eligibility, ensuring access to comprehensive care without excessive financial burdens. Additionally, the ACA includes provisions to reduce prescription drug costs.
What are the three main goals of the Affordable Care Act?
The ACA has three primary goals at its foundation, collectively known as the Triple Aim. The Triple Aim goals are: improve patient care, improve population health, and reduce the cost of health care.
Why is the ACA important?
The ACA helps cut high U.S. health care costs.
The ACA helps reduce costs, and its reforms should be continued to reduce costs in the future. Health care spending represented 17.5 percent of our gross domestic product in 2014, and is expected to reach 20.1 percent by 2025.
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.
What are two major ways the Affordable Care Act has improved the US health system?
The ACA expanded health coverage options for millions of people by creating insurance marketplaces with financial assistance for premiums, deductibles, and other costs, and by allowing states to expand Medicaid to cover adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($20,783 for an individual in ...
What are the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act?
The pros of the ACA include prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on health history and providing subsidies to reduce premiums and out-of-pocket costs. The cons of the ACA include small business challenges and limited provider options in some regions.
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.
What is the best example of preventive care?
- Screen for diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer.
- Look for future disease risks, such as high cholesterol and obesity.
- Discuss alcohol use and safe drinking and tips on how to quit smoking.
- Encourage a healthy lifestyle, such as healthy eating and exercise.
- Update vaccinations.
What are ACA essential health benefits?
The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered health insurance coverage in the individual and small group markets to cover essential health benefits (EHB), which include items and services in at least the following ten benefit categories: (1) ambulatory patient services; (2) emergency services; (3) hospitalization ...
What does ACA stand for in public health?
Affordable Care Act (ACA) The comprehensive health care reform law was enacted in March 2010. The law has 3 primary goals: Make affordable health insurance available to more people.