Affordable Care Act Archives - https://www.fromgirltogirl.com/

DC ranks 4th best in the USA for health care

With the Affordable Care Act remaining in effect and the CDC reporting that over 87 percent of the population has a regular place to go for medical care, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2019’s Best & Worst States for Health Care.

In order to determine where Americans receive the highest-quality services at the best prices, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 43 key measures of health care cost, accessibility and outcome. The data set ranges from average monthly insurance premium to physicians per capita to share of insured population.

How Washington, D.C. stakes up for quality Health Care

Health Care in D.C. (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

6^th – Avg. Monthly Insurance Premium
1^st – Hospital Beds per Capita
1^st – Physicians per Capita
2^nd – Dentists per Capita
2^nd – % of Insured Adults
3^rd – % of Insured Children
9^th – % of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years
2^nd – % of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year

In the United States, the average American spends more than 10,000 annually on personal health care, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That is approximately 17.9 percent of the U.S. GDP.

What drives up health care costs?

The overall health of the U.S. population
Increase in advanced medical equipment
Lack of awareness about effective treatments

Here is an important health care fact to keep in mind: higher health care costs do not necessarily translate to better results. And health coverage, life expectancy , and disease burden all major factors in the longevity and quality life Americans can expect nationwide. The two states with the best health care in the Nation are Minnesota (63.79% score) and Massachusetts (62.33% score). We can do better.

But the question still remains, how long will Affordable Care Act survive in our capitalist society?

Major insurers such Blue Cross, Aetna and Humana, have pulled out of many state-run insurance exchanges, leaving residents of some counties with few, if any, options for coverage. Learn more about the debate by reading the full report 2019’s Best & Worst States for Health Care now.

Can Obama Care truly offer universal healthcare in America?

In the last days of President Obama’s time in office, he is fighting for health law as republicans stand firm on their vow to repeal his Affordable Care Act (Obama Care). What is the future of the Affordable Care Act? No one can really say. President Obama’s signature health care plan is being defended by the democrats on Capitol Hill while President-elect Donald J. Trump warns Republicans to let Obama care “fall of its own weight.”

The Republicans want to repeal Obama Care altogether while the Democrats want to find ways to improve the Affordable Care Act – they even have a slogan: “make America sick again” to get public support on keeping Obama Care in tact. By a vote of 51 to 48, the Senate is taking the first step to repeal the Affordable Care Act via a budget resolution or blueprint that would clear a path for legislation repealing of major provisions of Obama’s signature health care law. And next week the House is expected to take up a budget resolution. Republicans are hoping the Trump administration acts on a series of executive orders that will make it easier to repeal the Affordable Care Act but it will be hard to repeal Obama Care because removing parts of the law could put the health care market in chaos.

If Republicans want to repeal Obama Care, they need to offer Americans an effective replacement and show the added value that replacement can offer citizens. 20 million poor and working-class Americans now take advantage of Obama Care to make sure they have health insurance. Read Why It Will Be Hard to Repeal Obama for more insight on the situation.

Two components of Obama Care Trump would like to keep are:

– Affordable healthcare for Americans with pre-existing conditions
– Let children stay on their parents’ policies until age 26

While Trump may support getting rid of cost-sharing subsidies and contraception coverage. The problem at hand now with the Affordable Care Act is that young, healthy people may not necessarily want to give to the insurance pool because they may feel it’s a waste of money if they are not going to go regularly to medical and dental appointments. The Obama care subsidies and the mandate right now need young, healthy people to help pay for older, sicker customers. If they did not give to Obama care, insurance companies would have to raise premiums and that could make millions Americans under the health care plan be priced out of insurance.

Fromgirltogirl’s thoughts on improving Obama Care

The only way any system, including a universal #healthcare system, becomes favorable is offering added value to all parties affected. In other words #insurance companies, #healthcare providers and #patients must feel like they are winning within the system. It’s harder to completely replace a system than make adjustments to improve a system. Regardless of industry, there’s one thing everyone likes to hear and see: a problem resolved or a system improved. If you can’t solve problems or improve a system, you’ll struggle to find support and won’t make progress on goals. A great way to find problems/resolve them is to focus on the user experience. Most valuable information you can have: complaints because knowing complaints can help anyone find creative ways to resolve issues. If Obama care can help Insurance companies keep down cost cross the system, more Americans will buy into the market place. This buy-in will make Obama Care profitable for insurance companies and health care providers while making healthcare affordable by the year for buyers. The big challenge is how to get to this point. Send commentary to Fromgirltogirl about your thoughts on how to improve the healthcare system and truly give universal healthcare to Americans.