How has the Affordable Care Act improved quality of care?

Asked by: Earl Rohan DVM  |  Last update: September 14, 2023
Score: 4.3/5 (30 votes)

Findings In this nationally representative cross-sectional study of 123 171 individuals, the ACA was associated with more high-value diagnostic and preventive testing, improved patient experience and access, and decreased out-of-pocket expenditures for lower income US individuals.

What are the positive effects of the Affordable Care Act?

People have access to essential health benefits, including preventive and rehabilitative care, prescription drugs, wellness visits and contraceptives, mental health and substance use treatment, among many others.

How has the Affordable Care Act impacted health care in terms of cost and quality?

Trends in cost and quality.

Although the ACA did not specifically target private sector spending, premiums for employer-sponsored insurance increased at a relatively modest annual average rate. Meanwhile, there were improvements on more than half of the measures that track quality of care.

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 ...

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.

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and how it improved individual and family health insurance

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How has the Affordable Care Act impacted hospitals?

Expanded health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is having a major impact on many of the nation's hospitals through increases in the demand for care, increased patient revenues, and lower uncompensated care costs for the uninsured.

How effective is the Affordable Care Act?

Indisputably, yes. More than 20 million people have gained coverage as a result of the ACA. It has dramatically reduced the uninsured rate. On the day President Obama signed the ACA, 16 percent of Americans were uninsured; in March 2020, it was nine percent.

Has the Affordable Care Act affected health care efficiency?

First, results indicate that since the ACA's inception measures of technical efficiency for state health care systems have increased, while measures of cost efficiency have declined.

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 are 3 benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

Affordable Care Act (ACA) basics

Among other things, the ACA made it easier for many people to get coverage, removed annual and lifetime limits on essential health benefits and put in place requirements that individuals have medical coverage or pay a tax penalty.

What are two major benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

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.

What are the 10 essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

Essential health benefits ensure that health plans cover care that patients need
  • Ambulatory patient services (outpatient services)
  • Emergency services.
  • Hospitalization.
  • Maternity and newborn care.
  • Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment.
  • Prescription drugs.

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.

Has the Affordable Care Act eliminated health care inequality in the United States?

Overall, we found that that the ACA significantly reduced income inequality. Inequality decreased both in states that have expanded Medicaid and in those that have not, although the impact was larger among expansion states.

Did the Affordable Care Act save lives?

We find a reduction in all-cause mortality in ages 20 to 64 equaling 11.36 deaths per 100,000 individuals, a 3.6 percent decrease. This estimate is largely driven by reductions in causes of death likely to be influenced by access to health care, and equates to one life saved per 310 newly covered individuals.

How much has the Affordable Care Act saved?

The ACA has helped bend the cost curve. But we should not rest on this $650 billion savings success. We can do more. Policymakers have increasingly come to understand that high prices are the biggest contributor to the growth in the cost of health care.

When did the Affordable Care Act become effective?

Effective January 1, 2013. Open Enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace Begins. Individuals and small businesses can buy affordable and qualified health benefit plans in this new transparent and competitive insurance marketplace. Effective October 1, 2013.

How has the Affordable Care Act improved or worsened the US healthcare system?

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.

How does ACA improve access to healthcare?

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 ...

Has the Affordable Care Act increased healthcare costs?

Conclusion. Data on how much Americans actually paid for their health insurance confirm that the ACA's mandates and regulations dramatically increased the cost of individual market health insurance in almost all states.

What was one major purpose behind the Affordable Care Act?

The intent of the ACA is to reform how insurance and health systems work to ultimately improve health care access, quality, and individual and public cost.

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 is one requirement of the Affordable Care Act?

One provision contained in the law is known as the “individual mandate” which requires that all Americans (regardless of age) be covered by health insurance (through a group or individual plan) or pay an annual financial penalty assessed by the Internal Revenue Service, unless waived under certain limited circumstances ...

What are three benefits of the Affordable Care Act quizlet?

Match
  • extending insurance coverage to the uninsured/underinsured.
  • decreasing costs by improving efficiency.
  • expanding prevention and wellness programs (PH measures)
  • protecting against undue financial burdens on individuals as a result of healthcare expenditures.
  • improving patient safety and quality of care.