LinkPad: Look back on health care reform

by Amy O'Connor 03/23/12 1 Comment

In honor of the two year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (and in light of the upcoming arguments to be presented before the Supreme Court), this week's LinkPad takes a look back at the last two years since implementation and the future of health care reform:

  • A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study released this week reports that the Affordable Care Act has helped young adults get coverage and also ensured they're able to keep it over time.
  • A blog posted by California Health Advocates outlines some of the successes, challenges and potential future outcomes of the health care reform legislation.
  • According to an article in USA Today, the Affordable Care Act has provided seniors with prescription drug savings of about $2.16 billion.
  • The Huffington Post reported on a joint brief submitted to the Supreme Court by NAACP, ACLU and Leadership Conference which showed that if the health care reform is found unconstitutional, Latinos may be more severely affected than other groups.
  • In an opinion for the New York Times, Linda Greenhouse breaks down the legal argument about constitutionality being made before the Supreme Court.
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Comments

Judy Hooper 02/15/13
This is great news considering all the bad publicity the Affordable Care Act has been receiving. Prescriptions for the elderly and insurance for young adults have been some of the issues thought to be reasons for avoidable ER visits. For instance, an avoidable ER visits occurs when an elderly patient goes to the doctor and cannot afford to get needed prescriptions. The patient becomes worse, resulting in an ER visit. Another example occurs when a young adult, who can’t afford insurance, becomes ill. The young adult resorts to an ER visit for the care they need. When the hospital does not collect payment for these visits, they incur a loss. These visits may cause an increase in health cost which may cause premium rates for those who have insurance to increase. If for instance, a $2.00 increase in insurance premiums would help the uninsured become insured and the elderly to have access to needed prescriptions, would people refuse to pay the $2.00 increase? I think this would be pretty much the same as refusing to feed a hungry child.

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