The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is one of the most crucial pieces of healthcare legislation but is also among the most controversial. Getting it passed was a monumental legislative achievement, and it’s faced several challenges since then in both Congress and the court systems. The ACA has remained largely intact and has had a tremendous impact on the American healthcare system, including the following 10 benefits.
1. Coverage Expansion
By 2016, thanks mainly to the Affordable Care Act, the number of Americans who didn’t have health insurance hit a low of under 27 million. Medicaid eligibility expansion drove over half of the new coverage. Premium assistance accounted for over half of the new coverage generated through the Healthcare Marketplace. Dependent-coverage provisions helped many young adults stay on their family policies through their parents longer than they previously might have. In the first five years of ACA coverage, over 16 million adults got coverage.
2. Preexisting Conditions
Before the ACA, healthcare insurance providers could deny coverage to individuals deemed to have preexisting conditions, and cancer was one such example. They would claim that certain injuries or illnesses happened before their plan covered a patient. This particular practice is no longer legal. Your preexisting health issues can’t be a reason why you’re denied coverage.
3. Government Savings
Early opponents of the ACA had several objections, but the projected costs were a big argument against the legislation. However, the expenses involved haven’t manifested to what was initially feared. Projections suggested that the ACA price tag for the federal government should have hit $172 billion by 2019. However, the actual cost was $128 billion, a number that was substantially lower than expected. Medicaid expansion, market reforms, and insurance subsidies still cost money. Still, lower premiums, reduced growth in healthcare costs, and more people paying into the system all helped stabilize costs across the board.
4. No More Time Limits
Before the ACA, many patients dealing with chronic health conditions would eventually run out of health insurance coverage. Companies providing health insurance incorporated limits into their policies about how much total money they would spend per patient. Health insurance companies are no longer allowed to set dollar limits in advance on the coverage they offer their consumers.
5. Access to Healthcare
The number of Americans with access to health insurance has also boosted the number of people who can access healthcare. Along with increased access to healthcare for those who previously could not secure doctor visits, those who were already in the system have access to more and better care. This is one area where the Medicaid expansion was particularly successful. Lower-income households enjoyed higher access to prescription drugs, primary care services, and specialists.
6. More Screening Coverage
The ACA legislation covers many preventative services and screenings, and these typically have low deductibles or copays. Lawmakers wrote the legislation this way, hoping that anyone proactive in their healthcare would delay or even avoid serious health issues later on. When patients and consumers are healthier over time, costs get lower across the market and at the individual level. Someone who goes through a diabetes screening and undergoes any early treatment deemed appropriate might avoid expensive and debilitating treatments that are necessary later on. The future is uncertain, but projections suggest that every American should have cheaper healthcare but higher quality levels for the coming decades.
7. Individual Affordability
Out-of-pocket medical costs have decreased for most people enrolled in the ACA healthcare marketplace. Subsidies, Medicaid expansion, and dependent coverage provisions help consumers save money in multiple ways. Insurance carriers are required to spend a minimum of 80% of their premiums on healthcare and improvements. Unreasonable rate increases are less likely with the ACA in place. For many, free insurance coverage doesn’t happen, but the number of coverage options consumers have is unlike what they previously experienced.
8. Cheaper Prescriptions
One of the promises behind the popular appeal of the ACA was to make more prescription drugs cheaper. Many Americans were previously financially unable to afford every medication their doctors prescribed, and this was particularly true for senior citizens. As a nation, roughly 30% of all adults are on prescription medications, and most of them have four prescriptions. The list of generic and prescription drugs covered by the landmark healthcare legislation has expanded since the law was enacted. Medicare beneficiaries alone have saved over $25 billion on their prescriptions thanks to this law.
9. Fewer Fatalities
Attributing fatalities or survivorship directly to the ACA is hard to do, and it’s a statistically and demographically complex situation for analysts to study. However, certain areas of the law have demonstrated a positive impact on rates of death in certain patient groups. The Medicaid expansion involved with the ACA has been a notable success. Cardiovascular-related fatalities in middle-aged Americans have gone down. Also, deaths due to end-stage renal disease across the American population seem to be on the decline.
10. No More Gender Rating
The practice called gender rating was how insurers got away with charging women in the individual market as much as 150% of what men paid, and pregnancy was considered a preexisting condition. The ACA means that women are now charged the same rates as men, and services deemed crucial to a woman’s health are guaranteed to be covered. Approximately half of all girls and women have at least one preexisting condition before their senior years. Over 60 million women can now access contraception and have full insurance coverage for it, and breastfeeding mothers now get mandated employer breaks and private spaces while at work.
A Major Step Forward
The ACA is responsible for reducing how many people are uninsured, and those numbers are at historically low levels. Access to needed healthcare services has significantly expanded among minorities and lower-income households. The healthcare system is stronger than ever, and the legislation is directly credited for saving thousands of American lives.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is one of the most crucial pieces of healthcare legislation but is also among the most controversial. Getting it passed was a monumental legislative achievement, and it’s faced several challenges since then in both Congress and the court systems. The ACA has remained largely intact and has had a tremendous impact on the American healthcare system, including the following 10 benefits.
1. Coverage Expansion
By 2016, thanks mainly to the Affordable Care Act, the number of Americans who didn’t have health insurance hit a low of under 27 million. Medicaid eligibility expansion drove over half of the new coverage. Premium assistance accounted for over half of the new coverage generated through the Healthcare Marketplace. Dependent-coverage provisions helped many young adults stay on their family policies through their parents longer than they previously might have. In the first five years of ACA coverage, over 16 million adults got coverage.
2. Preexisting Conditions
Before the ACA, healthcare insurance providers could deny coverage to individuals deemed to have preexisting conditions, and cancer was one such example. They would claim that certain injuries or illnesses happened before their plan covered a patient. This particular practice is no longer legal. Your preexisting health issues can’t be a reason why you’re denied coverage.
3. Government Savings
Early opponents of the ACA had several objections, but the projected costs were a big argument against the legislation. However, the expenses involved haven’t manifested to what was initially feared. Projections suggested that the ACA price tag for the federal government should have hit $172 billion by 2019. However, the actual cost was $128 billion, a number that was substantially lower than expected. Medicaid expansion, market reforms, and insurance subsidies still cost money. Still, lower premiums, reduced growth in healthcare costs, and more people paying into the system all helped stabilize costs across the board.
4. No More Time Limits
Before the ACA, many patients dealing with chronic health conditions would eventually run out of health insurance coverage. Companies providing health insurance incorporated limits into their policies about how much total money they would spend per patient. Health insurance companies are no longer allowed to set dollar limits in advance on the coverage they offer their consumers.
5. Access to Healthcare
The number of Americans with access to health insurance has also boosted the number of people who can access healthcare. Along with increased access to healthcare for those who previously could not secure doctor visits, those who were already in the system have access to more and better care. This is one area where the Medicaid expansion was particularly successful. Lower-income households enjoyed higher access to prescription drugs, primary care services, and specialists.
6. More Screening Coverage
The ACA legislation covers many preventative services and screenings, and these typically have low deductibles or copays. Lawmakers wrote the legislation this way, hoping that anyone proactive in their healthcare would delay or even avoid serious health issues later on. When patients and consumers are healthier over time, costs get lower across the market and at the individual level. Someone who goes through a diabetes screening and undergoes any early treatment deemed appropriate might avoid expensive and debilitating treatments that are necessary later on. The future is uncertain, but projections suggest that every American should have cheaper healthcare but higher quality levels for the coming decades.
7. Individual Affordability
Out-of-pocket medical costs have decreased for most people enrolled in the ACA healthcare marketplace. Subsidies, Medicaid expansion, and dependent coverage provisions help consumers save money in multiple ways. Insurance carriers are required to spend a minimum of 80% of their premiums on healthcare and improvements. Unreasonable rate increases are less likely with the ACA in place. For many, free insurance coverage doesn’t happen, but the number of coverage options consumers have is unlike what they previously experienced.
8. Cheaper Prescriptions
One of the promises behind the popular appeal of the ACA was to make more prescription drugs cheaper. Many Americans were previously financially unable to afford every medication their doctors prescribed, and this was particularly true for senior citizens. As a nation, roughly 30% of all adults are on prescription medications, and most of them have four prescriptions. The list of generic and prescription drugs covered by the landmark healthcare legislation has expanded since the law was enacted. Medicare beneficiaries alone have saved over $25 billion on their prescriptions thanks to this law.
9. Fewer Fatalities
Attributing fatalities or survivorship directly to the ACA is hard to do, and it’s a statistically and demographically complex situation for analysts to study. However, certain areas of the law have demonstrated a positive impact on rates of death in certain patient groups. The Medicaid expansion involved with the ACA has been a notable success. Cardiovascular-related fatalities in middle-aged Americans have gone down. Also, deaths due to end-stage renal disease across the American population seem to be on the decline.
10. No More Gender Rating
The practice called gender rating was how insurers got away with charging women in the individual market as much as 150% of what men paid, and pregnancy was considered a preexisting condition. The ACA means that women are now charged the same rates as men, and services deemed crucial to a woman’s health are guaranteed to be covered. Approximately half of all girls and women have at least one preexisting condition before their senior years. Over 60 million women can now access contraception and have full insurance coverage for it, and breastfeeding mothers now get mandated employer breaks and private spaces while at work.
A Major Step Forward
The ACA is responsible for reducing how many people are uninsured, and those numbers are at historically low levels. Access to needed healthcare services has significantly expanded among minorities and lower-income households. The healthcare system is stronger than ever, and the legislation is directly credited for saving thousands of American lives.
 Has Improved Healthcare in the Past Decade', 'The Affordable Care Act has been credited with saving thousands of American lives and making the healthcare system stronger than ever before
' ,'https://hiddenbenefits.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/shutterstock_1203020806-scaled.jpg')){kind=link}