JCHS IPE 300

Nancy Pelsoi (Speaker of the US House of Representatives) stated, "[H]ealth insurance reform legislation expands private health insurance in America, and is based on increasing choice and competition... among a variety of private insurance plans." This states that there will be more private health insurances offered to patients rather than the small quantity offered currently, which will increase the number of health care facilities a patient can receive care.

Also, the American College of Physicians (ACP) stated, "The recently enacted PPACA (H.R. 3590) includes numerous policies to train more primary care physicians and increase the supply of primary care physicians. These policies include: mandatory and increased discretionary funding for the National Health Service Corp (NHSC), reauthorization of Section 747 of Title VII, Training in Family Medicine, General Internal Medicine, General Pediatrics, and Physician Assistantship; creation of a Primary Care Training Extension Program and increased faculty scholarship loans, redistribution of 65% of the current unused Graduate Medical Education slots to primary care and general surgery and allowing residents to count their time spent in ambulatory settings to count towards their residency requirements, such as physician offices and community health centers; and the establishment of Teaching Health Centers, creating primary care residency programs in non-hospital settings." This states that not only will there be more choices of health care facilities patients can be treated at but there will also be more policies carried out to have more primary care physicians offered to patients to carry out care than the current number of PCP’s.

http://healthcarereform.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=003725

Our References:

Manchikanti, L., Caraway, D., Parr, A., Fellows, B., & Hirsch, J. (2011). Patient protection and affordable care act of 2010: Reforming the health care reform for the new decade. Pain Physician Journal, 14. Retrieved from http://www.painphysicianjournal.com/2011/january/2011;14;E35-E67.pdf

Pipes, S. (2012, September 28). The affordable care act and its impact on patients. Human Events. Retrieved from http://www.humanevents.com/2012/07/10/the-affordable-care-act-and-its-impact-on-patients/

The taxpayers should definitely be against healthcare reform. It has been stated that this reform will cost trillions of dollars. Where do you think a big chunk of that money is coming from? Yes, there are many other ways that the government plans on forming the money for this healthcare reform, but there is no doubt that there will be a significant rise in taxes. The highest income tax rate which is currently at 35%, is estimated to rise to 43.4%. There is no way that the ACA could work without getting a significant amount of the finances from income taxes. Why does the government get to decide to take taxpayer money for our health insurance? Shouldn't we be able to decide if we want health insurance for ourselves? Why should hard working tax payers be forced to give an even larger amount of their income to the government to pay for the health insurance of the uninsured? I believe tax payers have every reason to be against healthcare reform.

http://www.sfgate.com/business/investopedia/article/How-Healthcare-Reform-Will-Affect-Taxes- 3739502.php

On March 23rd, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act embarked the beginning of an opportunity to enhance America’s health care system and most importantly, promote assistance to the well-being of patients in the healthcare setting. Under the ACA, individuals are derailed on the idea of being forced to have some level of health insurance; however, the fact is that the ACA is only protecting individuals and ensuring a healthy future for each and every American. For example, the ACA states that individuals will no longer be denied coverage or refused claims based on pre-existing conditions. The ACA also endorses medical research to gain a better understanding of complex diseases, with the hope of finding cures and treatments for individuals. One may argue that the ACA is financially impossible for many individuals; however a system of federal subsidies will completely or partially pay for the health insurance that over 34 million Americans currently do not have.

In the patient perspective, this is an outstanding opportunity. The ACA may cause longer wait times to see physicians and possibly overly crowded healthcare facilities, but in return many more Americans will be insured, many less insurance claims will be denied, and patients will be encouraged to take part in preventative care causing less overall illness. In order to pay for this expanded healthcare coverage, there will be an increase in taxes and some individual insurance premiums will be slightly increased, but many people will be eligible for subsidies that will essentially cause their premiums to in fact be decreased. Therefore, in the eyes of the patient the benefits of the healthcare reform far outweigh the risks.