current health care policy

Identify local, state, and national legislative and regulatory processes that influence policy development, finances, and reimbursement in health care.
2. Describe current health policies from the perspective of consumers and health-related professions.
3. Describe the relationship between regulatory agencies and the scope of nursing practice.

Introduction to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
The KFF website is the primary resource during this course for information for memos and projects. There is a tremendous amount of data on the KFF website. For each assignment, I will provide links to critical articles, fact sheets, issues briefs, etc. You should search around the website for additional information or become familiar with the type of information they provide. KFF serves as a current source of non-partisan facts, analysis, and journalism for policymakers, the media, the health policy community, and the public.
What Is The Current Unbiased Status of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?
Healthcare financing in the United States is complex, complicating, and confusing. Our current health care and health care policy challenges often mirror the challenges faced by lawmakers and stakeholders in the twelve years before the law passed Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Most Americans, including most health care professionals, do not know the current status of the ACA, the health care reform program for Americans. However, if you break down the primary sources of financing, it can be less confusing.

The ACA is designed and implemented to provide health care to Americans who cannot obtain insurance for many reasons. Since the day the ACA was signed into law in 2010, there has been tremendous discourse. Several states filed lawsuits on the day it was signed into law, citing the law was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA law in 2012. These lawsuits slowed the implementation of the ACA initially. However, some popular programs were implemented in the first year (Adult children could remain on their parents/guardians’ insurance until they were 26).
The bulk of the ACA law was implemented in 2014. There were modifications to several ACA programs and services, but most of the ACA is intact, and it remains controversial for some.

Now, more than ever, thousands of Americans need health care coverage. Millions of Americans lose their jobs every week or cannot work enough hours to keep their health care coverage. Americans can enroll outside the yearly enrollment period (November 15 – December 15) when there has been a change such as marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, not eligible to remain on parents insurance, and of course, loss of a job and insurance.

Although the ACA is not perfect, improvements are needed. The ACA’s acceptance has increased after Americans appreciated having insurance, maybe for the first time in their life. When there are efforts to repeal the ACA, millions of Americans support the ACA advocate in many ways to keep their health insurance. States have overturned their elected officials so the state can participate in the ACA.
Update:
President Joe Biden became the 46th , President of the United States on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. There is a link below that will provide information about President Biden related to COVID-19 in an update.

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2), a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, into law. The link below shows a snapshot of the law and breaks down the law’s significant public health provision.
The American Rescue Plan signed by President Biden a week ago includes billions of dollars in new health benefits for Americans
However, the benefits may be hard for consumers to quickly take advantage of because of the interface with the federal and some state income tax systems and the lack of employees with experience navigating the system.
Resources For Federal Memo
For this memo assignment, focus primarily on health care and the current health care policies. Focusing on ACA and COVID would be enough for a one-page memo.
I have provided links to information from the KFF website on these health care concerns. You will find information about the ACA and where we are not after a lot of information about COVID- 19. Remember as you review the information that you are preparing a one-page memo to “your staff” to let them know the current status of the ACA. Approach your search for parts or pieces that you can use when preparing a memo for those who do not know anything about where we are at this time with ACA.

For this assignment, I ask that you only use the links provided by KFF. There are numerous other sources of information, and you will be able to use them after this. I will add additional unbiased sites next week. Also, there is so much information that keeping it simple is hard to do with SO many available resources.
The links below are linked to KFF or if needed, the URL address is provided.
1) What’s in the American Rescue Plan for COVID-19 Vaccine and Other Public Health Efforts?
URL: https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/whats-in-the-american-rescue-plan-for-covid-19-vaccine-and-other-public-health-efforts/

2) ACA Open Enrollment Matters for Medicaid Coverage, Too
URL: https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/aca-open-enrollment-matters-for-medicaid-coverage-too/
3) Impact of Key Provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 COVID-19 Relief on Marketplace Premiums
URL https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/impact-of-key-provisions-of-the-american-rescue-plan-act-of-2021-covid-19-relief-on-marketplace-premiums/
Instructions for: Federal Legislation Process Memorandum (Memo)
Purpose of this Assignment:
Provide a basic overview of the current status of current federal health care reform- Affordable Care Act (ACA), and possible barriers or changes to the ACA
Prepare a concise, unbiased memorandum about the current status of the ACA
There is a lot of confusion about how to obtain insurance through the ACA.
Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and need insurance.
President Biden expanded the ACA in the American Rescue Plan that he signed into law this month.
Overview of the Current Status of the ACA
The links that will provide the information you need for this memo are on the bottom of Lesson 3 Information.
For this assignment, you will need a promotion to a supervisory position. Yes, we will be pretending, and there is no salary increase 🙂 Give yourself a great title (Nurse Manager, Director of Nursing, VP of Patient Care, Chief Operating Officer, etc.). This is important because when you prepare a memo, you need an audience. You are to address them in your memo.

For this memo, please only use the information provided above in the lesson discussion. The key is to “Keep It Simple Students” (KISS) because your memo is intended to reduce confusion among your audience. Let your audience know that the ACA is still the health reform program for Americans.
A memo is usually one-page. If the memo is too long, you will lose your audience. I realize there is a lot of information to put into one-page, but you can do it!

Some tips from past memos: Address your staff they are your audience, Keep the subject line short, follow the memo format. You will need the “Referenccixe” section after your memo.

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