Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Research Paper

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - Research Paper Example Under the new law, children are no longer denied of the coverage based on pre-existing conditions (NCSL, 2012). They will be considered beneficiaries of parents until they will reach the age of 26. The healthcare reform has nationalized its system at the cost of $940 billion (NCSL, 2012). Such amount is exacted from budget cuts, taxation and government funding (Gravelle, 2010). On a positive note, it was perceived to have reduced the national fiscal deficiency by $1.2 trillion (NCSL, 2012). This was perceived as the strategic resolution to provide remedy to the serious concern about 32 million Americans who have no health insurance (NCSL, 2012) notwithstanding critique from other stakeholders that changes will also potentially impact to medicare system and the need for hospitals to cope with the increasing demand of health consumers as budget for national services are rationalized by the state. Healthcare subscribers still need to realize though that preventive health measure remains necessary since Obamacare program is designed as a government’s response to bridge the gaps on financial resources in case of hospitalization. Its appreciable still to note that central to this healthcare reform is the gender non-discrimination clause in its policy; restriction enforced to pre-need companies to make them customer-centered in providing insurance benefits; obliging insurance companies to justify any increase of insurance fees; availability of option to avail healthcare in accordance to their income bracket and nature of employment (NCSL, 2012). The co-payments for domestic violence screening, birth control and related expenses are no longer allowed (NCSL, 2012). Annual and lifetime limits for caring for the patients are already removed and micro-businesses will enjoy tax credits if their workers are afforded with insurance. Notwithstanding these positive reforms, there are still those who categorized that the Obamacare remains favorable to the affluent or the moneyed middle class who could save more from the healthcare benefits. They opined that there are still about 25% of entrepreneurs that are uninsured, 50% are dependent on their respective family, and there are about 60% with private insurance enjoy incomes at about 400% above the poverty level (NCSL, 2012). These affluent will qualify for tax credits other than the fact that it can subsidize healthcare to 83% small business owners that are currently considered not insured (NCSL, 2012). Department of Healthcare and Family expectations of Obama care for state of Illinois The Institute of Medicine (IOM) have already provided directives for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Â  pertaining to essential benefits of mandatory insurance under the health reform law's insurance exchanges (NCSL, 2012). Medical experts observed that the report and directive did not listed specific medical services to be covered by premiums of insurers but it recommended a framework to define the minimum benefits that can be generated under the insurance policy (NCSL, 2012). DoH acknowledged that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was the most comprehensive changes to the provision of health insurance since the development of Medicare and Medicaid by requiring all Americans to have health insurance by 2016 (NCSL, 2012).