New Health Care Law

New Health Care Law

There have been a number of different health care reforms proposed during the Obama administration. The first of these reform proposals to be passed by the United States Congress is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which originated in the Senate and was next passed by the Flophouse of Representatives in amended form on Tread 21, 2010 ( with a vote of 219–212 ). President Obama signed the reforms into law on Pace 23, 2010
A shiny design of the new health care reform law is amassed access to home - based care.
Last month ' s health care law contained some benefits for the nation ' s older population. It provided long - term care options to acquiesce more seniors to stay in their current homes quite than scout institutionalized care, and called for more publicly available information about nursing homes.
The number of Americans over 65 will fawn in the coming decade, as roughly 75 million Baby Boomers reach retirement age. Their long - term health care needs will strain the nation ' s collective billford, stretching thin programs not unlike Medicaid and Medicare.
Meanwhile, more than 10 million Americans are currently in need of long - term services that help them function in their daily life, and that number is expected to rise to almost 15 million by 2020, according to the National Council on Aging.
A variety of specific types of reform have been suggested to improve the United States health care system. These gamut from aggrandized use of health care technology through changing the anti - hope rules dominant health insurance companies and tort - reform to rationing of care. Different overall strategies have been suggested as well.
Reforming or restructuring the private health insurance market is often suggested as a means for achieving health care reform in the U. S. Insurance market reform has the future to increase the number of Americans with insurance, but is unlikely to significantly reduce the rate of success in health care spending. Careful consideration of basic insurance consciousness is important when considering insurance market reform,
in order to avoid unanticipated consequences and warrant the long - term go of the reformed system. According to one study conducted by the Urban Institute, if not implemented on a systematic basis with felicitous safeguards, market reform has the unrealized to generate more problems than it solves.
Critics have argued that medical malpractice costs ( insurance and lawsuits, for example ) are significant and should be addressed via tort reform.
How much these costs are is a element of dissert. Some have argued that malpractice lawsuits are a major driver of medical costs. A 2005 study estimated the cost around 0. 2 %, and in 2009 insurer WellPoint Inc. said " power wasn’t driving premiums. " A 2006 study start up neurologists in the United States ordered more tests in conceptual clinical situations mannered than their German counterparts; U. S. clinicians are more likely
to presentiment honesty which may be true to the creed of defensive strategies which are reported more often in U. S. impression programs. Counting both direct and winding costs, other studies conception the total cost of malpractice " is linked to " between 5 % and 10 % of total U. S. medical costs.
President Barack Obama argues that U. S. healthcare is rationed, based on income, type of employment, and pre - existing medical conditions, with midpoint 46 million uninsured. He argues that millions of Americans are denied coverage or face higher premiums as a upshot of pre - existing medical conditions.
The payment system refers to the billing and payment for medical services, which is distinct from the delivery system through which the services are provided. The over 1, 300 U. S. health insurance companies have different forms and processes for billing and reimbursement, requiring enormous costs on the part of service providers ( mainly doctors and hospitals ) to process payments. For example, the Cleveland Clinic, considered a low - cost, best - practices hospital system, has 1, 400 billing clerks to support 2, 000 doctors. Further, the insurance companies have their own overhead functions and profit margins, much of which could be eliminated with a single payer system. Economist Paul Krugman estimated in 2005 that converting from the current private insurance system to a single - payer system would enable $200 billion per year in cost savings, primarily via insurance company overhead. One counselling group estimated savings as high as $400 billion annually for 2009 and beyond.