Posted: December 24th, 2022

NURS 6050 week 3 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

As we just went through a political race for president. Us who work in healthcare know the effects of how policies and legislation can be shown to make improvements on patient populations. In the world of politics as long as there if federal driven healthcare insurance policies, the federal government will always have a say on how that insurance is utilized. Politics and healthcare are enviable.

Cost Benefit Analysis

Affordable Healthcare was an initiative to the Affordable Care Act. This was not only implemented as a law, but provisions that made the healthcare more affordable, accessible, and comprehensive. Even though the initiation of the ACA added to the federal expenses for healthcare, setting that a side the ACA also reduced costs for Medicare payment with a target goal to increase value (Buettgens, Blumberg, Holahan, & Ndwandwe, 2016). A form of benefit-cost analysis is when an organization’s decisions are based on the results of a benefit from an action and then the organization is able to outweigh the consequences from that decision NURS 6050 week 3 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. When discussing change in a public format a formal BCA can be at time a controversial strategy for evaluating the pros and cons with a possible policy change (Portney et al.). In this case we are looking at the pros or cons of legislators being reelected and how it affected the efforts of repealing/ replacing the ACA (Portney et al.)

Voters Views affect Decisions

It is seen in the year headed towards re-election, electoral pressure affecting the legislators they start to adjust their bill production. In election years we can guess to see an elevated pressure on certain legislation and one to note would the repeal/ replacement of the ACA. Legislator’s main goal is to remain in office and get re-elected or at least leave on their own terms. In order for legislators to get the votes from their constituents they must be aware of the political climate, but also that certain votes can affect whether they would stay in office. For Legislators to be able to know the issues and how it currently stands. So, when talking about congress and where they stand with Medicare and Medicaid, with the repeal of the ACA showing that there would be 14.5 million fewer people with Medicaid coverage in 2021 (How the ACA dented the cost Curve | Health Affairs, n.d.). Our states spending would substantially increase by billions over a decade of time staring in 2017 with hope that Medicaid reductions would balance out these increases. Many states have expressed their concern if the ACA repeal were to take place that the Medicaid program would start to experience short falls and affecting that patient population How the ACA dented the cost Curve | Health Affairs, n.d.). Significantly less health care would be provided to modest- and low- income families the affects if legislators vote could then ultimately determine if they will get reelected for another year (How the ACA dented the cost Curve | Health Affairs, n.d.) NURS 6050 week 3 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

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Conclusion:

To conclude healthcare and what is being implemented within the healthcare organization will always be dictated by the political arena. From the patient to the politician what they both feel the needs of the patients’ healthcare are vary. That is why it is important to understand the need as to why there are healthcare advocates in the political office to ensure that the patient population voices are heard.

References

Buettgens, M., Blumberg, L. J., Holahan, J., & Ndwandwe, S. (2016). The Cost of ACA Repeal. Urban Institute. doi:http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/81296/2000806-The-Cost-of-the-ACA-Repeal.pdf

How the ACA dented the cost Curve | Health Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01478

Portney, P., Horwitz, S., Munger, M., Norton, R., Ehrbar, A., & Hardin, G. (n.d.). Benefit-cost analysis. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/BenefitCostAnalysis.html

Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Regardless of political affiliation, individuals often grow concerned when considering perceived competing interests of government and their impact on topics of interest to them. The realm of healthcare is no different. Some people feel that local, state, and federal policies and legislation can be either helped or hindered by interests other than the benefit to society.

Consider for example that the number one job of a legislator is to be reelected. Cost can be measured in votes as well as dollars. Thus, it is important to consider the legislator’s perspective on either promoting or not promoting a certain initiative in the political landscape NURS 6050 week 3 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and reflect on efforts to repeal/replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Consider who benefits the most when policy is developed and in the context of policy implementation.

By Day 3 of Week 3

Post an explanation for how you think the cost-benefit analysis in terms of legislators being reelected affected efforts to repeal/replace the ACA. Then, explain how analyses of the voters views may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies (e.g., Congress’ decisions impacting Medicare or Medicaid). Remember, the number one job of a legislator is to be re-elected. Please check your discussion grading rubric to ensure your responses meet the criteria.

By Day 6 of Week 3

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by expanding on their explanation and providing an example that supports their explanation or respectfully challenging their explanation and providing an example NURS 6050 week 3 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

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