Indeed, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act left numerous effects on the healthcare influence in many dimensions. The major aspects of HIPAA singed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton refer to the insurance protection of workers. The act also lists the requirements of national standards for electronic healthcare transactions. Among the major effects of the legislative act, one can outline the impact on research and operational activities of clinical centers. In fact, after the HIPAA entered into force, the main concern among physicians was the increased amount of paperwork as well as the high cost of its implementation. Those who were engaged in research, also since their limited abilities of analysis in retrospect. In particular, the studies of the University of Michigan indicate that the changes mandated with the HIPAA enforcement were interlinked with the increased time for recruiting patients, which caused certain complications for those who worked in the healthcare industry. Moreover, the privacy rule of HIPAA was very often broken.
Another implication of HIPAA enforcement was the necessary education, which resulted in the high cost of training. However, Medicaid and Medicare represent the two integral parts of the document which also changed the overall state policy towards health. Medicaid which is listed under the Title 1 of the document primarily refers to the families with the limited financial resources and enables them with the required healthcare. The eligibility of individuals was expanded with the adoption of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Another element of Medicaid is that it offers a Fee for Service for Schools throughout the United States so that it promotes healthcare activities for the larger amount of individuals who are in need. All of the changes listed above were adopted in 2010 when The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed. In turn, Medicare adopted in 1996 represents a national insurance program which is administered by the federal government. The idea of Medicare is that it provides insurance to Americans, aged 65+ who worked and contributed taxes to the payroll tax. Medicare is mainly funded through the Payroll Tax.
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"Unit 2: Healthcare Legislation".
Affordable Care Act (from now on ACA) is also referred to as Obamacare. To a large extend, it provides a new consumer protection. In other words, the interests of a patient would be served first rather than the cost of the care. Lowered costs introduced with the Act provides higher changes to become a beneficiary of the healthcare services for a larger amount of Americans, so that the healthcare now becomes universal. This aspect of ACA is also interlinked with the increased access to healthcare services as well as with the accountability of insurance companies. Since the ACA was introduced, the pharmaceutical lobbying decreased due to the recently introduced constraints.
Currently, there are several governmental programs that mainly serve the interests of older Americans. The innovation of such a model of healthcare is that they are all coordinated through the National Care Planning Council. One of the guiding documents on providing healthcare to seniors is the Older Americans Act which provides numerous benefits to Americans aged 65, which is also reflected through the healthcare. Also, Medicare provides additional benefits to those who are aged, too. The recent change attitude to healthcare issues form the governmental authorities illustrates the changed approach towards treating vulnerable groups of people. Another aspect interlined to the above-mentioned points is that healthcare services are mostly based on the amount of taxes paid by senior of the US citizens. If a US-citizens has a long work experience, then he or she would be ensured with the respective healthcare services.
- Government Programs for Older Americans. (2016). Longtermcarelink.net. Retrieved 4 September 2016, from http://www.longtermcarelink.net/eldercare/area_agencies_on_aging.htm#WhyIs
- Thompson, T. The Affordable Care Act.
- Roberts, L. (2013). Obamacare. Cork: BookBaby.
