week 3 Flashcards
what is “health care reform”
pt protection and affordable care act
signed into law march 23, 2010
in general,
democrats and republicans support what
democrats support more governmental involvement in HC and more controls on markets
republicans believe in less governmental involvment and more market driven reforms
what were some big issues when ACA was passed
- out of control costs
- high # of uninsured
- higher number of underinsured
- risking premiums/deductibles
- underwriting (pre existing condition exclusions and rescission)
what are fundamental issues in the heathcare system
- access
- quality
- cost
what does access mean
what does quality mean
what does cost mean
what are the 5 fundamentals of ACA
- shared responsibility paymetn (ind mandate)
- medcaid expansion
- insurance exchange and subsidies
- 10 required essential benefits
- revenue to pay for it
individual mandate
explain the death spiral
explain the employer mandate
what is the min coverage for the emplyer mandate
what are some reasons why states did not chose to expand medicaid
prior to the ACA, medicaid excluded who
what are the choices for running health insurance/market?
- design/run your own with help of federal grants
- state and federal gvt work togetehr on designing and running exchange
- federal gvt runs it for you
requirements for exchange design
- Standard language/information to allow comparison
- Comparison of plans based on price, benefits, and other features
- Tiered: lowest to highest as bronze, silver, gold, platinum
- Some plans are divided geographically (e.g. must live/work in Denver to purchase plan through Denver Health Insurance Plan)
what does guaranteed issue eliminate and what does it limit
- pre existing condition
- rescission
allows for 3:1 rating variation based on
- age
- geographic area
- tobacco use
coverage limits:
- eliminates lifetime limts
- severly restricts annual limits
- in and out exchanges
what are the 10 min required essential benefits
- ambulatory (outpatient) care
- emergency services
- inpatient hospitlization
- maternity and newborn care
- mental health and substance use disorder service
- RX drugs
- rehab and habilitative services
- lab services
- preventative and wellness services; chronic disease tx
- pediatric services (dental care and vision for kids)
universally, what is thought to be the biggest issue
cost control
what are known reaons for high costs (esp premiums) under ACA
- essential health benefits in exchange
- who buys in the exchange
- pre-existing conditions coverage
- no life time and very limited annual maximums
- no cost sharing for basic prevention
whats the goal for medicare reforms
Goal: help to improve quality of care for seniors as hospitals would be more likely to find ways to help individuals stay well after a hospital discharge.
how has access changed from the reforms
- increasing the number of PCP
- community health centers
- extension of coverage for young adults
- PCP/general surgeon payments (medicare payment bonus of 10% to PCP and general surgeons practicing in areas with sig shortage of physcians)
- medicaid reforms (increase payments to primary care drs- family physicians, internal med, peds)
how has prevention changed with the refrom?
- free preventio benefits
- free prevention and wellness visits in medicine
chain resturants and vending machine co requires to disclose the nutritional content of each food
healthcare before the ACA included what
- deductibles
- premiums
- cost sharing
- underinsured population
- uninsured population