Rough Draft - Research

Obama Care

Obama Care the topic which is soon to light up the political stage as we come close to yet another political election for the 2012 presidential election this is one topic that whether we like it or not will affects everyone who lives in the United States. It seems we have heard so much about national Healthcare or Healthcare reform and up to this point it seems difficult to understand exactly what is Obama care and what affect will this have on the nation.

                What is Obama Care? Well Obama care is the name given to the current health care legislation or Healthcare reform called “The Affordable Care Act” that was passed by congress and signed by President Obama on March 24^th 2010 as reported on an article posted by Stephanie Condon of CBSNews.com. In this post we here that health care reform passed by a small margin of 219 to 212 that means healthcare reform passed by 4 votes in the House of Representatives. Looking for a definition of what Obama care is the White House Website has a link to healthcare reform on White Houses web site we find answers to common questions about Health Care reform and our rights as Patients even documentation of “A New Patients Bill of Rights” as documented on www.whitehouse.gov . So it’s safe to say that Obama care is Healthcare reform that is legislation being developed by the Obama administration and the United States Government. The White House web site made navigating the site easy to do and the White House has made it simple to learn about Healthcare reform or Obama Care.

The Patient’s Bill of Rights include eight points that are meant to sum up what health care reform is going to cover and or provide for all affected by it. This was also reported on the Washington Times Website in an article written by Associated Press journalist Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar. They are as listed below.

The White House Patient’s Bill of Rights

·         Ban on Discriminating Against Kids with Pre-Existing Conditions

·         Ban on Insurance Companies Dropping Coverage

·         Ban on Insurance Companies Limiting Coverage

·         Ban on Insurance Companies Limiting Choice of Doctors

·         Ban on Insurance Companies Restricting Emergency Room Care

·         Guarantee You a Right to Appeal

·         Covering Young Adults on Parent’s Plan

·         Covering Preventive Care With No Cost

These are considered basic rights that will put an end to some of the previous faults that we found in the previous healthcare system.  The Bans are to prevent insurance companies from Discriminating against children with pre-existing conditions or dropping coverage in the middle of a condition they cannot limit the amount of coverage you can receive in a lifetime due to serious conditions. Insurance companies cannot limit the choice of doctors a patient can visit or Ban Emergency room care. This Bill of rights also a right to appeal an insurance companies decision to a third part for consideration. This Bill of rights also increases the age in which young adults are covered under their parent plan until the age of 26 making this standard legislation for all insurance companies nationwide and last and definitely not least covering preventive care at no cost. These are a basic summery of what Obama care or Healthcare reform is going to cover. But the white house’s Patients’ Bill of Rights isn’t the first of its kind the American Hospital Association in 1973 adapted a similar Bill of rights for patients in need of care this doesn’t limit or enforce what insurance companies may do but require a level of service to be offered and rights that every patients has so it’s easy to see this isn’t the first attempt at a patients’ bill of rights but has recently been revised and replaced by The Patient Care Partnership as noted on www.aha.org.

The Patient Care Partnership has been adapted to inform a patient of what to expect during their hospital stay with regards to their rights and responsibilities as reported on the AHA’s website. These are the standards in which the hospital is expected to perform and the expectation of the patient during a hospital stay in the United States. They are as listed.

The Patient Care Partnership

·         High Quality Hospital Care

·         A clean and safe environment

·         Involvement in your care

·         Protection of you privacy

·         Help when leaving the hospital

·         Help with your bills and claims

These are Basic right and should be the standard of what hospitals should be providing to the patients it admits into the hospital. These are enforced by The American Hospital Association. An important look into these that Healthcare reform doesn’t appear to affect how hospitals operate rather how the insurance companies interact with Us the patient to provide a more complete healthcare. But this isn’t the first attempt to a healthcare reform in the United States.

Healthcare reform can be traced back to the 1920’s as noted in an article written by Timothy Noah on slate.com an online news journal which is associated with the Washington Post. In this article Timothy Noah Explains a short history of health care. The start of health care was quite simple it was to provide quality healthcare while keeping cost down. At that time insurance companies were regional and worked directly with the hospitals. The origination that started Healthcare in the United States was the AHA or the Blue Cross who worked to provide quality healthcare and keep costs to the patient low. The Blues insurance group or the BlueCross which later became the organization we know today as BlueCross BlueShield Association as noted on their website bcbs.com was one of the first to provide this coverage to patients. By the 1940’s more national insurance agencies found that there is profit in providing healthcare insurance as more business looked for means in which to insure employees of their business and so begun corporate sponsored Health Insurance. On positive Note about the blues insurance offering that it provided coverage for its customers at a standard rate or the same rate for everyone customer no matter age or health status this begun to change as more and more companies begun offering healthcare insurance. Healthcare saw a steady rise as the medical technology rose and was more widely developed by the 1980’s companies such as the Blues provided majority of the healthcare in the united states and companies like HMOs that started off as nonprofit very quickly turned to a profit based system and between the 1980’s until 1997 that number was more like 65 percent. Thus changing the way health care would work in the United States from a largely non profit customer driven industry to a profit driven business industry. History has shown that as Health care became more privatized and insurance companies became more business driven and fewer customers driven there became a shift in the focus of care offered to the persons seeking healthcare. With the steady change in Healthcare over the yrs has driven questions and action over the years by the National Government.