The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" was enacted by President Barack Obama in 2010. The most significant changes to the American healthcare system have ever been made are contained in this law. (Rosenbaum, 2011). Now that this legislation is in place, every American citizen has access to high-quality healthcare that is also reasonably priced. It also makes it possible for the healthcare system to undergo a number of changes that help keep expenses under control. The Congressional Budget Office recognized that this Act is always funded and that it offers 95% of the population access to affordable healthcare while working within the $900 million budgetary cap set by President Barack Obama. (Protection, & Act, 2010). It can be acknowledged that this act contains 9 titles and each of them address different components of the entire reform process and they include; the role that public programs play, provision of affordable healthcare to all the citizens, improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare, healthcare workforce, improving public health and preventing chronic diseases, increasing the access to innovative medical therapies, program integrity and transparency, provision of revenue, and community living assistance supports and services. For over 40yrs, the community healthcare centers have been able to deliver high-quality and comprehensive healthcare to many patients regardless of the patients’ abilities to pay. During that time, the community healthcare centers became the primary medical homes for many of the Americans, as well as, the vulnerable populations living amongst them. It can therefore be stated that the health centers have a successful track record as they have played a significant role in the national recovery efforts, thus, they will play a significant role in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. This paper is a research proposal that seeks to guide research aimed at identifying and understanding the impacts of the Affordable care act and the community health centers. It also seeks to explain how this has affected the insured and the underinsured, as well as, reflect on those that have been employed in the public sector and in the non-profit organizations.
Chapter 2: Research Question
The impacts of the Affordable Care Act have been viewed in various perspectives and contexts by a majority of researchers, however, there are few studies that look at the act, as well as, the community health centers through the lens of the public or the non-profit organizations. In this research proposal various questions will be asked, for example, how have the low income earners mostly employed in the public sector and those working for the non-profit organizations benefit from the Act. Specifically, has the signing of the act into la helped in the receiving of affordable healthcare despite the fact that community healthcare centers existed before that? By compiling a detailed and effectively supported literature review, this research proposal aims to bring to light that there is need to conduct a study that will determine how the low income individuals mainly working in the public sector, as well as, in the non-profit organizations have been impacted by the Affordable Care Act.
The proposal will begin by investigating the Patient Protection and affordable Care Act in general so as to have a clear understanding of what it entails. It will then briefly look at the history of community healthcare centers and the role they have played in the provision of affordable healthcare. The proposal will then proceed to look at how the community healthcare centers play a significant role in promoting the Act. Having been promoted the proposal will look at how the Act has impacted the lives of the low income workers in the public sector, as well as, this working in the non-profit organizations as a majority of them are uninsured or underinsured.
Chapter 3: Literature review
3.1 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The patient protection and affordable care act was signed into law on the 23rd of March 2010 by President Barack Obama. It can be described as the greatest change that has ever taken place in the US healthcare system since the passage of Medicaid and Medicare. It is commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or the federal health reform. Having more than 900 pages, the Act contains many provisions with each having its own effective date (Protection, & Act, 2010).
Some of the key federal provisions in the Act intend to increase the access to insurance services, emphasize the protection of consumers, expand the health workforce, scrub off the increasing health care costs, improve the quality of the healthcare services, and emphasize on wellness, as well as, prevention (Rosenbaum, 2011).
One of the major aims of the ACA is to increase the access to insurance to about 30 million uninsured citizens. This it will achieve by putting up strategic efforts that will expand both the public and the private insurance. A majority of the key provisions in this took effect the 1st of January 2014 and they include (Towers, 2013).
The provision of tax credits to small and medium sized enterprises that cover certain costs of health insurance to their employees
All employers should cover their employees, however, the small employers are exempted from this.
Medicaid expansion to cover people whose salaries are below 133% of the poverty guidelines provided by the Federal State.
The enactment of consumer protection
All individuals should have insurance, however, those with specific religious beliefs, as well as, in financial hardships should be exempted
The Federal health reform also aims to increase consumer protection and the provisions in this that became effective as at the year 2010 include (Hofer, Abraham, & Moscovice, 2011).
Discourage insurance plans from excluding the coverage of children with particular preexisting conditions
Create a state-based review of unreasonable premium increases.
Limit the use of annual caps on insurance coverage
Prohibit the cancellation of insurance coverage except in cases of fraud.
The ACA intends to emphasize on the prevention of illness and this it will through the following provisions (Huntington, Covington, Center, Covington, & Manchikanti, 2011);
Establishing a prevention and public health plan
Creating a National Prevention and health promotion campaign
Increase the Federal share of all the Medicaid payments
Initiate the Federal home-visit initiatives
Insist that Medicaid provisions include tobacco cessation services for those who enroll when pregnant.
Through specific provisions, the Act intends to address the rising healthcare costs and this it intends to do by giving more insight into the health insurance premiums, as well as, premiums, emphasizing on prevention, and reducing the fraud that is currently in the healthcare system (Protection, & Act, 2010).
The reform also addresses issues to do with the workforce through a number of provisions. These reforms seek to regulate the medical education training so as to not only increase the number of medical professionals in the country but to also to produce those that are well skilled (Goodson, 2010).
The Act also contains provisions that seek to improve the system performance and improve the quality of the healthcare services. These provisions include;
Investing time and resources on health information technology
Collecting and analyzing data on health disparities among the population
Conducting comparative studies that compare the effectiveness of various types of treatments
The improvement of the coordination between Medicare and Medicaid patients
3.2 The History of Community Healthcare centers
3.3 The Community Health Care Centers and their role in promoting the act
3.4 How the Act and the community health care centers have impacted the lives of the low income workers a majority of whom are uninsured or underinsured.
Chapter 4: Proposed Method
The aim of this chapter is to and explain what is underlying the proposed project’s objectives. This chapter highlights the research design, the sources of data that have been used in this project, that is, the primary and the secondary sources, the data collection tool, that is, secondary research and sampling, as well as, the data analysis of the proposed project.
4.1 Project outline
This paper has set a defined research methodology, however, before more is discussed, it is important to define what a research methodology also referred to as a research design is. A research methodology is a logical sequence that works to connect any empirical data to the initial questions and conclusion in a project or study. In this research, the main sources of data will be the secondary sources.
4.2 Qualitative research
The research that will be undertaken in this particular paper is qualitative research. Qualitative research can be defined as the kind of research that is majorly associated with the interpretation of philosophy because as it helps the researchers understand the socially constructed and subjective meanings of the phenomenon under investigation. This method is better applicable to this particular project because it will aid in the gaining of a better understanding of the area of study, rather than just getting a numerical analysis. In this research method, there exists 2 approaches through which research for this particular paper can be done and these include the deductive and the inductive approaches as they. The approach that will be used in this particular project is the inductive approach as it encourages the gathering of data and facts from scratch, therefore, this particular project is not based on theory building. The benefit of adopting this approach is it enables the development of an effective rationale that will help reach the aim and objectives. The deductive approach will not be used in this particular research because of its disadvantages.
4.3 Quantitative research
Quantitative research is also another method that could be used in the research of this paper, however, this research method concentrates on the numerical analysis and interpretation of data. It is therefore important to note it will be used in the proposed research through sampling.
4.4 Triangulation or the multiple research methods
Multiple research methods or triangulation is the process through which multiple theoretical perspectives, observers, methodologies, and sources of data are used in a single project. This particular research method could be applied in the proposed research paper if at all the original data collected does not does not specifically answer the aim and objectives of the of this research paper.
4.6 Ethical considerations
There are a lot of ethical considerations that need to be taken into consideration when conducting research for this particular paper. Ethics is that which involves the consideration of what is right or wrong. As a study, ethics can be thought off as the study of good behavior and the grounds for making judgment about what is good behavior. Ethics has 3 types of status and these include relativity to culture, objectivity, and subjectivity. There are various arguments about the origins of ethics, for example, as an outcome of evolution. It is also important to note that there are a lot of philosophical approaches to ethics, for example, the absolutist approach that states that ethical theories exist purely by themselves and the values that apply to all can be derived. According to the utilitarian approach, actions are only judged on the basis of their consequences. The virtue ethics approach suggests that an individual’s actions are based on the character of the individual, thus, behavior is not looked at from a moral point of view. It is acknowledged that research is essential for the successful creation of new knowledge, thus, the dignity, rights, as well as, the safety and the well-being of all those who participated in a research should be a primary consideration in all research.
3.7 The project plan
The purpose of the project plan
The purpose of this project plan is to provide a clear definition of the project including the project’s aims and objectives.
The project approach
This particular section outlines how the research was conducted:
Research for the Secondary sources
The research for the secondary sources done was through the internet, the use of books, and journals
Research for the primary source
The research for the primary sources involved:
Sampling
The objectives
The objective of this particular report include:
To understand the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
To understand the community healthcare services
To assess the impact that the affordable Care Act and the community healthcare centers have on the low income earners a majority of who are uninsured or underinsured.
Scope
Scope definition
The project will define the Affordable Care Act, how the community healthcare centers have aided in its implementation and the impact it has on the uninsured and the underinsured.
Assumptions
The following assumptions were made when preparing the project:
The project plan may change in case new information is revealed through research
All the project participants will have to give consent to the researcher before being asked to participate in the research
Sampling will have to be done as the primary source of data.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
References
Goodson, J. D. (2010). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: promise and peril for primary care. Annals of Internal Medicine, 152(11), 742-744.
Hofer, A. N., Abraham, J., & Moscovice, I. (2011). Expansion of coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and primary care utilization. The Milbank Quarterly, 89(1), 69-89.
Huntington, W. V., Covington, L. A., Center, P. P., Covington, L. A., & Manchikanti, L. (2011). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: reforming the health care reform for the new decade. Pain physician, 14(1), E35-E67.
Protection, P., & Act, A. C. (2010). Patient protection and affordable care act. Public law, 111(148), 1.
Rosenbaum, S. (2011). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: implications for public health policy and practice. Public health reports, 126(1), 130-135.
