With change always comes uncertainty. There are many
political issues as stake in 2017, but one of the biggest is the fate of the
Affordable Care Act. At the moment,
Republicans are lobbying to repeal the Act originally passed in 2010. This past week, the U.S. Senate passed a
budget blueprint, which was the first step in a possible repeal. This blueprint paves the way for repealing or
revising certain portions of the law.
The new administration has also vowed to make significant changes to the
Affordable Care act through both executive power and legislative actions.
At this point, it is very hard to say what affect these
changes will have on healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers. Of course, the major concern is loss of
insurance coverage to those who depend on the federal exchanges and
subsidies. Also largely at stake are
early components of the Act, which allowed students to stay on their parent’s
insurance until the age of 26 and most importantly blocked insurance companies
from refusing to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions.
There are a few other portions of the law that many have
come to rely upon, but others no little about.
These include:
1. Calorie counts – Restaurants
with 20 or more buildings are required to post the caloric content of food on
their menus.
2. Breast feeding
rights – The Affordable Care Act requires organizations to provide several
accommodations to mothers who are breast-feeding and also includes insurance
coverage of certain equipment.
3. Community Needs
Assessments – Nonprofits healthcare organizations are required to perform
community needs assessments every three years.
4. Habilitative Care
– In the past certain therapies were only covered by insurance for
rehabilitative purposes (e.g., stroke or injury related). The Affordable Care Act included coverage for
habilitative therapy (e.g., speech therapy for a child born with autism).
5. Prescription Drug
Costs – the Affordable Care Act included better coverage for prescription drugs
through Medicare.
Other issues at stake include an increase in the federal
deficit if individuals can opt out of purchasing health insurance. Without the young and healthy to fund
healthcare for the elderly and ill, the federal government will need to pick up
the added cost. In addition, it is
unknown if states who expanded their Medicaid programs will opt to continue to
offer coverage to those who no longer qualify.
Obviously, 2017 might prove to be as interesting as
2016. Let’s hope the focus is on
autonomy and utilitarianism. Provide the
greatest good to the greatest number of people while protecting the rights of
our citizens. It’s a large task.
Provided by Valerie Connor, MA,CCC-SLP; MS CHES. Adjunct Faculty, Saint Joseph's College
