The Patient Protection and affordability Act of 2010 is now accepted as law and is legally binding. This legislation requires that healthcare insurance be expanded to include all American citizens. It requires that the over 45 Americans who are uninsured to be integrated into the system, and required to carry health insurance cards when visiting medical facilities (Sarath, 2010). Employers are expected to offer in health insurance cover to their employees. The PPACA requires Medicaid, Medicare and the Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP) be adequately expanded.

The PPACA provides for provisions to allow for budget cuts on the health care sector to a staggering 500 billion dollars over the next decade. The act allows for states to develop substitutes to legal action against unprofessional conduct by insurance companies for charging high premiums. States will be offered grants to this end(Sarath, 2010) (Sarath, 2010).

Generally the PPACA as a law is an embodiment of a set of programs aimed at improving the wellbeing of all citizens through the provision of preventative health care that is affordable to all. It reaches out to all parts of the health care sector.

The PPACA requires that doctors be ready for a large increase in the number of patients. The expected expansion in coverage will require that the doctors prepare appropriately for complexity in accounting arising from technicalities in the law. More patients however will not translate to increased revenue collection. Insurance companies offer low compensation rates (Sarath, 2010). The law tends to appreciate primary health doctors more leaving specialists at a disadvantage. Doctors are prohibited by the law from owning any ownership interests in medical facilities such as hospitals.

Emergency rooms in hospitals receive a bulk of the uninsured patients. Insured healthcare will help reduce the high costs that emergency rooms bear on hospitals. Emergency rooms require the use of expensive equipment drugs and many personnel. From ambulances to the I.C.U. these equipments are expensive to acquire, maintain and run. On the other hand, health care insurance covers 50% of patients, more insured patients will mean diminished returns in terms of revenue especially made worse by the proposed healthcare costs (Sarath, 2010).

As for the nursing homes, the future is a little bit gloomy. The PPACA advocates for such patients to receive care at their residences. This is considered less expensive and psychologically fulfilling to all affected parties at home. Most of the patients in nursing homes are on medical insurance. The only foreseeable strategy to stay profitable will be to increase on fees charged to private patients.

The most sensitive issue affected by this law is the management of patients with acute illnesses. The Act proposes that all American citizens should be insured against their health. This is to be done through payments from the employer or health insurance exchanges (Sarath, 2010). As the number of insured Americans increases, so will the number of patients with acute illness increase proportionally, these persons are considered by the insurance sector as high risk individuals. The PPACA will effectively rid of previous abuses by the insurance industry with better rights to health and related benefits. The case of chronic illness patients, better drugs, no annual limits on healthcare insurance and children are allowed to access healthcare pegged on parents’ insurance till the age of 26 is a step to universal healthcare for all (Sarath, 2010).

References

Sarath, P. (2010, July 6). How does the PPACA Affect the Healthcare Sector? Bizmology. Retrieved April 8, 2011, from http://www.bizmology.com/2010/07/06/how-does-the-ppaca-affect-the-healthcare-sector/

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