Medicare Blog

what is one way that the affordable care act positively affected medicare?

by Mr. Ahmad Bogisich Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage) also counts as minimum essential coverage under the law. The Affordable Care Act also affected Medicare by adding coverage for a "Wellness Visit" and a “Welcome to Medicare” preventative visit. It also eliminated cost-sharing for almost all of the preventive services covered by Medicare.

The ACA lowered costs for seniors on Medicare
Altogether, ACA programs have saved seniors more than $20 billion on prescription drugs since the law's passage, and seniors have benefited from no-cost preventive services such as cancer screenings and wellness visits.
Mar 23, 2020

Full Answer

How does the Affordable Care Act affect Medicare?

Medicare and the Affordable Care Act 1 Preventative Services. The Affordable Care Act also affected Medicare by adding coverage for a "Wellness Visit" and a “Welcome to Medicare” preventative visit. 2 Wellness Visits. ... 3 Welcome to Medicare Visits. ... 4 Preventative Services. ...

What is the goal of the Affordable Care Act Quizlet?

The Affordable Care Act aims to achieve the following goals: Improve the quality of healthcare and patient safety. Make coverage more secure for those who have insurance, and extend affordable coverage to anyone that is uninsured. Ensure access to quality, culturally competent care for all American demographics.

What is the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

The ACA is the most significant expansion of health insurance coverage in the United States since the implementation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1966. As of early 2016, about 20 million more individuals have health insurance compared with 3 years ago, just prior to the implementation of the law’s major provisions.

Does the Affordable Care Act improve the probability of excellent health?

Second, an improvement in the probability of reporting excellent health emerged in the third year, with the effect being largely driven by the non-Medicaid expansions components of the policy. Keywords: Affordable Care Act, health insurance, access to care, health care access, self-assessed health, self-reported health, health

How has the Affordable Care Act affect Medicare?

Medicare Premiums and Prescription Drug Costs The ACA closed the Medicare Part D coverage gap, or “doughnut hole,” helping to reduce prescription drug spending. It also increased Part B and D premiums for higher-income beneficiaries. The Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2018 modified both of these policies.

What are some positive aspects of the Affordable Care Act?

ProsMore Americans have health insurance. ... Health insurance is more affordable for many people. ... People with preexisting health conditions can no longer be denied coverage. ... No time limits exist on care. ... More screenings are covered. ... Prescription drugs cost less.

What are two major benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

Summary: The Affordable Care Act is generating major benefits for our economy by expanding access to affordable insurance coverage and reforming our health care delivery system to reduce costs and improve quality.

Is Medicare Advantage Part of the Affordable Care Act?

The ACA does not eliminate Medicare Advantage plans or reduce the extra benefits they provide. It is up to each private insurer to decide what extra benefits to offer (they are required to offer all benefits covered by traditional Medicare).

What are the 10 essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered health plans in the individual and small group markets to cover essential health benefits (EHB), which include items and services in the following ten benefit categories: (1) ambulatory patient services; (2) emergency services; (3) hospitalization; (4) maternity and ...

Which of the following is a benefit of the Affordable Care Act quizlet?

Increases benefits and lower costs for consumers, bolster our health care and public health workforce and infrastructure, foster innovation and quality in our system. Covers preventative care at no cost to you, protects your choice of doctors, removes insurance company barriers to emergency services.

Who benefits most from the Affordable Care Act?

Who does the Affordable Care Act help the most? Two categories of individuals will benefit the most from the exchanges: those who don't have health insurance right now and those who buy insurance on the individual market.

How did the Affordable Care Act affect Medicaid quizlet?

How did the Affordable Care Act affect Medicaid? Federal government will provide funds for increases in payments to primary care doctors, including family physicians, internal medicine, and pediatricians. What is access to care and what is access affected by? What percent of the uninsured are employed?

How does the Affordable Care Act affect the elderly?

"The ACA expanded access to affordable coverage for adults under 65, increasing coverage for all age groups, races and ethnicities, education levels, and incomes."Under the ACA, older adults' uninsured rate has dropped by a third, indicators of their health and wellness have improved, and they're now protected from ...

What is the Affordable Care Act quizlet?

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. more widely known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. The act was enacted to expand coverage, hold insurance companies more accountable, lower healthcare costs, give people more choice for insurance, and increase the quality of healthcare/ health insurance.

How would ACA repeal affect Medicare beneficiaries?

Dismantling the ACA could thus eliminate those savings and increase Medicare spending by approximately $350 billion over the ten years of 2016- 2025. This would accelerate the insolvency of the Medicare Trust Fund. Undoing the ACA would jeopardize these fiscal gains and harm Medicare's long term financial stability.

How did the ACA reduce Medicare costs?

Cost savings through Medicare Advantage. The ACA gradually reduced costs by restructuring payments to Medicare Advantage, based on the fact that the government was spending more money per enrollee for Medicare Advantage than for Original Medicare. But implementing the cuts has been a bit of an uphill battle.

Why did Medicare enrollment drop?

When the ACA was enacted, there were expectations that Medicare Advantage enrollment would drop because the payment cuts would trigger benefit reductions and premium increases that would drive enrollees away from Medicare Advantage plans.

How much does Medicare Part B cost in 2020?

Medicare D premiums are also higher for enrollees with higher incomes .

What is Medicare D subsidy?

When Medicare D was created, it included a provision to provide a subsidy to employers who continued to offer prescription drug coverage to their retirees, as long as the drug covered was at least as good as Medicare D. The subsidy amounts to 28 percent of what the employer spends on retiree drug costs.

What percentage of Medicare donut holes are paid?

The issue was addressed immediately by the ACA, which began phasing in coverage adjustments to ensure that enrollees will pay only 25 percent of “donut hole” expenses by 2020, compared to 100 percent in 2010 and before.

How many Medicare Advantage enrollees are there in 2019?

However, those concerns have turned out to be unfounded. In 2019, there were 22 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, and enrollment in Advantage plans had been steadily growing since 2004.; Medicare Advantage now accounts for well over a third of all Medicare beneficiaries.

How many Medicare Advantage plans will be available in 2021?

For 2021, there are 21 Medicare Advantage and/or Part D plans with five stars. CMS noted that more than three-quarters of all Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans with integrated Part D prescription coverage would be in plans with at least four stars as of 2021.

How does the Affordable Care Act work?

The Affordable Care Act aims to achieve the following goals: 1 Improve the quality of healthcare and patient safety 2 Make coverage more secure for those who have insurance, and extend affordable coverage to anyone that is uninsured 3 Ensure access to quality, culturally competent care for all American demographics 4 Reduce the growth of healthcare costs while promoting high-value, effective care 5 Emphasize primary and preventive care associated with community prevention services 6 Promote the adoption and usefulness of health information technology

What is the goal of the Affordable Care Act?

The Affordable Care Act aims to achieve the following goals: Improve the quality of healthcare and patient safety. Make coverage more secure for those who have insurance, and extend affordable coverage to anyone that is uninsured. Ensure access to quality, culturally competent care for all American demographics.

How to reduce healthcare costs?

Reduce the growth of healthcare costs while promoting high-value, effective care. Emphasize primary and preventive care associated with community prevention services. Promote the adoption and usefulness of health information technology. The Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, has been dominating headlines for the past few months, ...

How many categories of care are there in the Affordable Care Act?

The Affordable Care Act requires that all healthcare plans offer a minimum of ten categories of care for beneficiaries. Never before have all Americans been privy to this level of coverage offering comprehensive care in all categories with different restrictions applying to each.

What are the different tiers of health insurance?

Under the Affordable Care Act, starting in 2014, there will be four tiers of coverage for health insurance plans named for different metals: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. This approach gives Americans of all backgrounds different options of coverage depending on their interest, medical needs and budget.

How much is the penalty for not having health insurance?

The penalty for not having health insurance is up to $95 per adult and $47.50 per child, which rises each year substantially to incite all Americans to get coverage. Coverage for young adults continues until you are 26 if you so choose, even if you are financially independent and live away from your parents.

Can I get turned down for a pre-existing condition?

Luckily, no American can be turned down based on a pre-existing condition under the Affordable Care Act, but nevertheless, this is a great accomplishment in healthcare for women’s continued health.

What happened in the third year of the Affordable Care Act?

Second, an improvement in the probability of reporting excellent health emerged in the third year, with the effect being largely driven by the non-Medicaid expansions components of the policy.

How long did the Affordable Care Act last?

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased insurance coverage and access to care after 1 (2014) or 2 (2014-2015) postreform years, the existing causally interpretable evidence suggests that effects on self-assessed health outcomes were not as clear after 2 years.

Which states have expanded Medicaid?

Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Alaska expanded Medicaid in January, February, and September of 2015, respectively. Montana and Louisiana expanded Medicaid in January and July of 2016, respectively. States are classified as part of the Medicaid expansion treatment group beginning the month/year of their expansion.

Impact of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in the United States (2009-2017)

The data on this page was the most current data available as of October 2017.

Population without health insurance coverage, 2004-2016

The Affordable Care Act originally required states to expand eligibility for Medicaid to cover all individuals, including childless adults, whose income was 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) or below. In 2017 this amounted to $16,643 for individuals and $33,948 for a family of four. In 2012 the U.S.

Monthly Medicaid enrollment in the United States

Nationwide, enrollment in plans offered on the exchange amounted to about 10.3 million in 2017. Of individuals enrolled, 84% were eligible for premium tax credits, which averaged $371 per month.

Exchange enrollment and financial assistance in the United States, 2017

The Affordable Care Act also created a new type of nonprofit health insurance company to offer insurance on the exchanges: the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan, or co-op. The law stipulated that no representative from an insurance company or association could serve on a co-op board and that no co-op could accept outside investor funding.

Average number of health insurers on the ACA exchanges in the United States

The Affordable Care Act required insurers to design plans that offered a standard set of health benefits, termed by the law as essential health benefits.

What is the Affordable Care Act?

The Affordable Care Act: Increasing Transparency, Protecting Consumers. The Affordable Care Act includes new patient protections that give you greater control over the care you receive, as well as new resources to make the health care system more transparent and competitive. These developments will help ensure that you have ...

What is the HealthCare.gov tool?

At HealthCare.gov, our insurance and coverage finder tool allows you to shop for private health insurance policies. While coverage can be expensive, this tool can help you find policies in your area that offer the lowest premiums, the lowest out-of-pocket costs, and other features that matter when finding the most affordable option. The tool also helps you find coverage if you have a pre-existing health condition or qualify for other public options.

What is the new consumer assistance program?

To ensure consumers know their rights, the Administration has launched www.HealthCare.gov and supported state efforts to inform and protect consumers. New Consumer Assistance Program grants funded by the law will help make sure that consumers receive their new rights and benefits under the Affordable Care Act by providing grant money to states ...

Do insurance companies have to disclose rate increases?

Insurance companies are now required to disclose to its customers’ rate increases of 10% or more and justify these increases – and HHS and the states have the authority to determine whether these increases are reasonable.

Do insurance companies have to disclose how much they spend on health care?

Insurance companies now are required to reveal how much of your premium dollars they actually spend on your health care and how much they spend on administration, such as salaries, bonuses, and marketing. This is information that was not shared with consumers in the past.

Criticism

Impact

Prognosis

Healthcare

  • Luckily, no American can be turned down based on a pre-existing condition under the Affordable Care Act, but nevertheless, this is a great accomplishment in healthcare for womens continued health.
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Cost

  • Women have a wider range of options now when it comes to choosing healthcare providers, they can save money by qualifying for lower cost monthly premiums and less frequent co-pays as well. Women cannot be charged more than men, coverage costs must be equal across the board to offer equal opportunity for everyone to pay their healthcare costs. This is another major improve…
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Benefits

  • Pregnant women also benefit heavily from the new regulations, requiring that all preventative care and check ups are free for women before, during and after pregnancy to ensure women and their children can afford the best coverage available. This helps reduce the amount of money taken from Americans during times of dire need, to ensure they get back a portion of their costs on me…
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Results

  • In the end, women can no longer be charged a higher insurance premium than men and their insurance most offer maternity benefits because healthy mothers and babies are important to the continued thriving of American society. The Affordable Care Act protects these precious assets to ensure a long, healthy and productive life for all Americans.
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Advantages

  • Employers or individuals can elect to purchase higher tier plans for more extensive coverage if they wish, it just costs more for the sole proprietor or the company. Many existing insurance plans today are grandfathered, but regardless, they must offer benefits in the above categories in order to remain legal.
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Purpose

  • This legislation aims to make insurance companies more accountable across all of their service offerings, ensuring their is more focus on providing reliable and helpful services to patients and less emphasis based on their profits.
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Example

  • If your insurance company pays more than 20% on your premium dollars on overhead like the salaries of top executives, marketing, administrative costs or other extra services; your insurance company has to pay you the difference overtime.
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Prevention

  • More preventive care options are available for seniors for less as required by law. This update allows Medicare to cover certain preventive services like a mammogram or a colonoscopy without charging a patient a deductible or hidden fee. There are 19 other preventive services that this now helps to cover for seniors to help reduce the cost of medical services across the board.
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