Review of a current Scholarly Article on Current Healthcare Legislations and its Possible Effects on Healthcare System

Article Review Instructions

You are required to submit a 1–2-page review of a current scholarly article on the current healthcare legislations and its possible effects on the healthcare system. Please try to locate political neutral articles. You will utilize the Article Review Form provided in the Assignment Instruction folder. Article reviews will include the following elements:

  • Author’s proposed purpose/goal of the Article Provide a brief overview of the article, its intended audience, and its purpose.
  • Analysis of Key Issues – Analyze the article’s key issues discussing their strengths and weaknesses, providing evidence to support your opinions.
  • Conclusions/Findings/Assumption – Discuss the author’s conclusions, findings or assumption as they relate to the current healthcare discussion. Also identify any social or political position the author is promoting.
  • Personal assessment and reflection – Provide several assessments of how the article can be used in support or rejection of current healthcare policy and clearly relates them to biblical principles.

Format the reviews and all references/citations used in your review in APA or AMA style and see the Article Review Grading Rubric for the specific grading criteria.

The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade by McIntyre and Song (2019) – Article Review

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), popularly known as Obamacare, was enacted by Congress in 2010 and signed into law by President Obama in the same year. The act is a federal law that sets out the policy framework and regulations for the functioning of the healthcare sector in the country. Many scholars have written extensively on the successes of the implementation of the act, as well as the challenges faced in its execution. This paper reviews the article, “The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade” by McIntyre and Song (2019).

Read also Want To Know More About Affordable Care Act – Must Read Resources

The goal of the authors was to highlight the successes that the act has enjoyed in its first decade. The article also highlights, in details, the challenges, and the difficulties that the law has faced. The authors write that the act has led to an increase in the uptake of insurance cover. Many Americans have been able to access insurance cover because the law removed many hindrances (Hu et al., 2016). The article also highlights the fact that the act made it possible for people with preexisting conditions to obtain insurance cover. One of the main challenges that the article puts forward is the fact that the courts rolled back the federal mandate on Medicaid, and put this mandate on individual states. This limited the rate at which Medicaid could expand (McIntyre & Song, 2019).

Read also The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) And How It has Impacted American Government and Society

One of the key issues that the authors touch on is on the expansion of insurance coverage since the enactment of the legislation. Most private insurances were very affordable to most Americans, and this greatly aided in the expansion of insurance services across the country (Dresden et al., 2017). The aspect of individual mandate is another factor that pushed many to take up insurance as they feared facing penalties. Another critical issue that the article covers is on the fact that the removal of funding for cost-sharing has increased the cost of insurance in the recent past. 

Read also Individual Mandate Included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The authors find that the act has a strong backing in the general public, and is therefore set to enjoy the dominance in dictating health policy in the country. Though the act faced challenges in the first two years of the Trump administration, the new congress that is dominated by democrats means that the legislation is safe going into the future. The authors also establish that most states have been able to create arrangements and bills that have been able to increase funding for cost-sharing reductions. This has led to the stabilization of insurance prices and continued increment in the number of Americans enrolling in insurance schemes. The authors do not appear to be leaning on any political side, and are in favor of bipartisan deliberation by the congress in order to stabilize the legislation even further.

Read also Legal Aspects of US Health Care System Administration

Personal Assessment and Reflection From my own research, it is clear that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been of central significance to the improvement of healthcare in the country. An increase in the number of people that have healthcare insurance cover is an essential element that indicates that many people are secured in case of medical emergencies (Hu et al., 2016). I think this is an essential indicator that shows the health of a country. There is a direct correlation between a healthy population and its economic growth. An assurance of quality health ensures that people can focus on working and improving the economy.

Scroll to Top