hsci 660d policy brief

Running head: Policy Brief

Policy Brief paper

By Kanale Rodrigues HSCI 660D 6/13/17

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Executive Summary

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obama Care, Only 8.6 percent of the United U nited States population remains uninsured in 2016. However, health disparities still remain high among the low social economic status, minority groups, and families that live in high crime areas. Health disparities can be improved upon with making improvements to the ACA, instead of havin g that number increase with the repel of the ACA that is currently being viewed in the senate after being passed through the house representatives during the month of May 2017.


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The new health care act named the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would lead to over 52 million United States Citizens to being uninsured in the year 2020.

The AHCA would allow health care insurances to increase premiums for the senior popu lation up to five times cost that the ACA blocked. Citizens with pre-existing conditions switch plans might be charged a higher premium rate if the insurance agency choices too. AHCA would also be cutting planned parenthood funding, getting rid of the individual mandate that would allow insurance agencies can increase prices of their coverage’s, and the minimum standard that that health insurance agencies had to give with their coverage by offering cheap plans that with what ever the health insurance


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company wants to provide (citation).

This bill would have devastating effects on the low economic status, minority groups, and families that live in high crime areas. Instead improving the ACA by using bipartisan decision-making amongst other policymakers on the hill to give everyone in the country to have the resources to keep themselves and their family strong and healthy. The real question is why I am explaining ex plaining the impact of the repel of the ACA to those that wrote the AHCA because as explained exp lained above about social status those policymakers being the 1 percent have never had to take care of their families without having insurance.

Context and Importance of the Problem

The United States public having access to health care coverage is not enough. Understanding the specific communities needs and how best deliver resources is using the ACA to the max potential. Families that are low economic status have higher levels of negative ne gative mental health outcomes with the expansion of the market options of the ACA being dropped even lower


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in price by holding the insurance companies accountable to providing coverage to everyone. As for minority groups that have health care insurance provide social workers and trained public health workers to instruct patients how to properly take their med icine as well as develop a plan to match patients with physicians that can speak the same language.

This would decrease the likelihood of misunderstanding and decrease health disparities based on application of the physicians instructions. However, repel of the ACA would remove all the hope of the millions that have insurance because of o f the ACA. As policy makers just makers just imagine a day you didn’t know where to take your sick family member because you didn’t have health insurance, couldn’t effectively understand the physicians instructions, or didn’t know if your children were going to make it home safe every day. da y. Well that is a day in the lives in which policymakers can influence the actual health of over millions of Americans.

Critique of the Policy Options

The ACA is not perfect but can be improve to the best b est quality coverage to eliminating health care disparities among the lower social status communities. However, repealing the ACA does


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nothing but put more money in the th e hands of the 1 percent as well as the policy makers for not doing their job by protecting and serving those who elected them to office. Also, playing the low social economic status lack of knowledge on health care never explained to the public that ACA and Obama care were the same thing, which lead to communities not signing up based on political party differences.

Policy Recommendations

The ACA could be improved by providing more funds to employers that have to provide health insurance to their employee’s as well as be fined for having certain amount of part-time part-time workers so that more workers can be full time time to receive benefits. Also, the ACA should measure the number of household owners own ers there are to family members instead of covera ge based solely on income. This would allow single pa rents that just make above the federal poverty line to still receive coverage even though are above the federal poverty line. This would decrease health disparities among the low economic status b ecause they would have at least have accesses to healthcare could improve health care c are to the target community. Provide increased i ncreased federal funds to provide trained workers to educate patients p atients on ACA enrollment and as well as how h ow to properly administer their medication that physicians have instructed the patient to do, in the long run will cut down on reoccurring visits to the hospital. Lastly, more coverage options can be added to specific location so that the sole provider in that a rea can’t charge what they want just because they’re the only provider only provider in the area. Once again improving the ACA would decrease overall health disparities of communities that lower end of the social status landscape. To conclude policy makers need to start using more empathy when making decision instead of playing on the


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hate and misunderstanding of the United States S tates public. Health disparities can be much improved with the improvement of the ACA.


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References: Butler, D. C., Petterson, S., Phillips, R. L., & Bazemore, A. W. (2012). Measures of Social That Predict Health Care Access and Need within a Rational Area of Primary Delivery. Health Services Research,48 (2pt1), 539-559. doi:10.1111/j. doi:10.1111/j.14751475-

Deprivation

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6773.2012.01449.x

Improve and Repair: Three Ideas to Strengthen the ACA. (2016, January 01). Retrieved June 14,

2017,

from http://democra http://democracyjournal.org/magaz cyjournal.org/magazine/38/improve-and-r ine/38/improve-and-repair/ epair/ F. (n.d.). ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers. Retrieved June 14, 2017, from https://obamacarefacts.com/sign-up https://obamacar efacts.com/sign-ups/obamacare-enrollm s/obamacare-enrollment-numbers/ ent-numbers/ Singer, P. (2017, May 04). What does the the Republican Obamacare repeal repeal bill bill actually do? Retrieved 2017, from https://www. https://www.usatoday.com/sto usatoday.com/story/news/politi ry/news/politics/2017/05/04/what-doescs/2017/05/04/what-does- the-republicanobamacare-repeal-bill-actually-do/101278668/

June 14,

hsci 660d policy brief

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