Sie sind auf Seite 1von 6

Alzaroui 1

Fouad Alzaroui

Andrew Cavin

PS1010

29 March 2017

The Effectiveness of the Affordable Care Acts Preventive Care

Health care is currently the biggest issue in the United States political climate due to the

expensive prices of medications, treatments, etc. Many politicians in congress and even the

President of the United States are working vigorously to come up with a plan to help Americans

have better health care insurance plans in order to live a healthier life style. Health care in the

United States has become increasingly expensive every day, making it even more difficult for

people with low income jobs to afford its outrageously high copayment. Many policies have

been put forth by the government to help lower class Americans reduce the cost of their health

care plans; these policies include preventive measures and Medicaid incentives. This social

problem matters because medical services are rising making it harder for people to afford

payments. Preventive care proves to be the most successful policy to help Americans avoid the

rising costs of health care.

Americans across the nation have been dealing with expensive costs of medical services.

Many factors contribute to the ridiculously high prices of health care services in the United

States. Some of these factors include unhealthy lifestyles of Americans, drug prices, and lack of

knowledge about preventive measures like early testing, screenings, and vaccinations offered by

insurances. Howard Schneider, author of Americans are far, stressed and unhealthy, argues that

the United States of America ranks severely low in the world when it comes to diseases such as

obesity, diabetes, and heart disease because of our diet and lack of exercise. This unhealthy
Alzaroui 2

lifestyle is a major cause of diseases which requires very expensive treatments and medications.

These treatments may also last for several years unless they improve their diet. Another factor

that has been raising prices of medical services is newly discovered drugs and medical

technology. According to a report from CNN, by Parija Kavilanz, drug prices are very high due

to the amount of research done to create them. Usually people buy generic drugs because they

are the same drug but much cheaper. Kavilanz says that, generic drugs account for about 80

percent of all prescriptions in the United States (Kavilanz). Now you might be wondering how

are drugs contributing to the expensive costs of health care costs when there are cheaper generic

substitutes available? Well, while generic drugs are cheap they usually dont hit the market right

away so there is a significant lag time (about ten years) before prices adjust for a drug that goes

off patent (Kavilanz). Another major factor that affects the price of medical services is that

people find out they have a problem too late and causing the treatment to be much more

expensive because of the development of a more severe problem. For example, attempting to

treat a stage 4 cancer would be much more difficult to treat than stage 1 or stage 2 cancer

because the disease is not only stronger but will also require more expensive medical treatments

to cure. All Americans need affordable health care but each day prices for medical services are

rising making it harder for people to afford the copayments and monthly payments. The best way

to avoid these rising prices are through a healthier lifestyle and preventive measures.

Policies created by the national government have been made to encourage a healthier

lifestyle and offer Americans a wide array of preventive measures options. One policy made to

help promote a healthier lifestyle is Medicaid incentives which offers incentives to people who

are on good behavior with their health. This is an attempt to encourage healthier lifestyles so an

unnecessary expensive trip to a doctors office may be avoided. This seems like an idea that
Alzaroui 3

would be successful because people would be motivated but Hannah Katch, an author for Center

on Budget and Policy Priorities, explains that the rewards for living a healthier lifestyle arent

that enticing. She explains that studies have shown that there has been little to no effect to

peoples health by this incentive because the incentive just arent worth the effort to change their

habits. A better policy that politicians have created is the Affordable Care Act which requires all

insurances to offer preventive care.

Preventive health care focuses on health maintenance. This is a routine health check of

risk factors for the development and early diagnosis of diseases. This can prevent citizens from

needing more expensive treatment after they contract a disease that could have been prevented.

As mentioned previously in the second Memorandum, the Affordable Care Act implemented this

policy to help Americans gain access to routine screening services, checkups, vaccines, and

medical advice. If everyone that has an insurance plan has access to preventive care, then why

dont people use it? Elizabeth renter says that about 57 percent of the United States population is

unaware of these free services offered by all insurance companies. Harvard professor, John

McDonough, from the school of Public Health said that the insurance companies must cover

preventive care at no cost under the ACA because it would already be covered with the payments

made monthly to insurances. He also said, it requires coverage of preventive services through

private plans without cost sharing and addresses other areas of prevention such as tobacco

cessation, obesity screening, and menu labeling (John McDonough). The main goal of the

Affordable Care Act is to help Americans prevent diseases that would later cost a fortune to treat.

A structural barrier of the preventive care policy process is evaluating all the different

types of tests. Most diseases are unique and require different tests or treatments to cure. Although

preventive care services are meant to save money, some tests are just way too expensive for
Alzaroui 4

insurances to be handing out to everyone for free. Dr. Ruben, explains that because different

barriers are present in different settings, insurance companies require doctors to evaluate a

patient to see if they need an expensive screening done or not. Doctor evaluations are simple and

inexpensive making them a good way to combat the structural barrier of costly testing.

Another structural barrier of the preventive care policy process is a product of

misconceptions about vaccinations. Vaccinations are an important early defense against diseases

but there is a fear that vaccinations cause autism in children. The preventive care policy requires

certain vaccines to be mandatory for all Americans, this was a big issue for people against the

use of vaccines. According to Big Think, the main social structure around vaccines is that 1 in 10

Americans believe it causes autism in children even though there is no study to prove this claim.

More education on vaccines would combat this by putting the general public at ease and making

it easier to give more people vaccines. Author Monica Anderson explained that there is a law in

most states that allows people to even opt out from vaccines for religious purposes. This makes it

difficult to prevent diseases early with vaccination but states like Mississippi, West Virginia,

and now California do not allow religious exemptions to vaccines (Anderson). Other states are

also starting to follow this path in order to save money and prevent the spread of diseases. By

putting the public at ease by educating the about vaccines we can combat this barrier and allow

for earlier treatment of illness.

Preventive care services have been proven to be a very successful way to save money and

improve the overall health of the population. The National Commission on Prevention Priorities,

sought to answer the question of whether preventive medicine and screening is a good

investment. In the recent study, they found that preventive services such as daily aspirin use,

tobacco cessation support and alcohol abuse screening can potentially save 2 million lives and
Alzaroui 5

nearly $4 billion annually (Currie). Another study done by Dr. Cohen shows that preventive

care is saving money for major health risks including smoking, poor diet, physical inactivity,

alcohol abuse, and influenza. He also explains that diseases that are more common can help save

more money. Likewise, diseases that are less common dont show too much promise to be saving

money. Thus, diseases that are less common arent included in the Affordable Care Acts list of

preventive care services until cheaper screenings are available to diagnose them. These studies

prove that the Affordable Care Acts preventive care policy is a very effective method to save a

significant amount of money and keep Americans healthier.

Health care reform is one of the biggest problems the United States faces today. Health

care is becoming more expensive every day making it harder on Americans to afford their

insurance payments. Preventive health care focuses on proactively keeping people healthy in

order to reduce risks of diseases. This can prevent citizens from needing expensive treatment

after they contract a disease that could have been prevented. This policy overcame obstacles like

costly testing and fear of vaccination by letting doctors evaluate a patient and educating the

general public about the benefits of vaccinations. Studies also prove that the preventive health

care policy is a very effective way to save money and keep Americans healthier. Although it

doesnt fully solve the social problem, reformers have made significant progress on the issue. If

we continue to focus on this issue, implement solutions that we know to work from previous

implementations, and look for new innovative solutions, we can solve the health care issue of

this nation.

Works Cited

Anderson, Monica. "5 Facts about Vaccines in the U.S." Pew Research Center. N.p., 17 July
Alzaroui 6

2015. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

Choen, Joshua, Dr. "Does Preventive Care Save Money? Health Economics and the Presidential

Candidates." N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Currie, Donya. "Prevention Saves Lives as Well as Money, New Research Confirms."

Medscape. N.p., 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Katch, Hannah. "Are Medicaid Incentives an Effective Way to Improve Health Outcomes?"

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. N.p., 24 Jan. 2017. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Kavilanz, Parija. "6 Reasons Health Costs Keep Going up." CNNMoney. Cable News Network,

12 July 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

McDonough, John. "HEALTH CARE THINK TANK ONGOING SYSTEMS CHALLENGES

IN US HEALTH CARE." (n.d.): n. pag. 25 Mar. 2015. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

Rubin, Haya. "Overcoming Barriers to Preventive Care." N.p., 15 June 2000. Web. 28 Mar. 2017

Schneider, Howard. "Americans Are Fat, Stressed, and Unhealthy." The Washington Post. WP

Company, 01 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.

"Tackling the Challenges Preventing Vaccination." Big Think. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen