Evaluating Obama's Healthcare Legacy - Essay Sample

introduction

Whether a health professional or not, The Affordable Healthcare Act which is described as one the legacies that Barrack Obama tried to create, comes with a pinch of salt. Though, crafted with good intentions a clear analysis of what follows such policy shifts should inform us of the changes that we ought to make to the act before it is too late. The changes are investable given the fact that the resources dedicated to this plan are taken from your pocket, hence in case of poor management your hard-earned cash may be wasted without any value for your coin. The changes that I would propose are thus based on the following shortcomings that are associated with ACA.

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According to Hackbarth and Berwick (2012), the cost reductions in the ACA are necessary and prudent, but if other initiatives are taken too far or too fast, they become risky. For instance, they argue that the less privileged Medicaid beneficiaries or the seniors who are covered by Medicare may be unable to afford the new-cost sharing formula because clinicians and hospitals could have withdrawn their services from the local market. As such, if I were in a position to I would propose a relook into the pricing model and the overall cost-sharing approach in a bid to ensure no segment of the citizens is disadvantaged by the act.

Besides, Hackberth and Berwick (2012) continue to argue that ACA may open a floodgate of wastage. This wastage is costly to both the government and the individuals at times when health care expenditures are slicing away a huge chunk of the federal budget. Without such wastage, the money spent on curative expenses could be channeled to other sectors of the economy hence further stimulate the expansion of our productive capacity in both service and product firms. For instance, there is the overtreatment waste that comes out of compelling people to be part of the care system that is deeply rooted in outmoded habits informed by supply-driven behaviors as opposed to individual tastes and preferences. To me, being part of the affordable care system should be optional other than making it a must for working and non-working adults.

The wastage created by administrative complexities is another bottleneck associated with the ACA. The whole system is laden with bureaucratic inefficiencies which range from accreditation agencies to payers and other layers of administrative signatories (Yong, Saunders, & Olsen, 2010). For instance, payers may intentionally or unintentionally fail to fill in the standardized payment forms hence consuming a physician's time by subjecting his payments to complex billing systems.

As a health practitioner, I would tirelessly advocate for the installation of efficient systems that would see seamless transfers to doctors other than relying on unfriendly government bureaucrats to process the payments. Although ACA was intended to cut costs the above-mentioned shortcoming have the potential of clawing back the projected savings that proponents of ACA have tirelessly defended in both political and apolitical forums. If the concerns are not addressed earlier enough, ACA may be another conduit by health bureaucrats to get away with our money by offering services that commensurate to tax deductions.

References

Hackbarth, A. D., & Berwick, D. M. (2012). Eliminating Waste in US Health Care. JAMA, 307(14), 1513. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.362

Yong, P. L., Saunders, R. S., & Olsen, L. (2010). The Health Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes. Washington DC, National Academic Press. doi:10.17226/12750