Abstract
There Impact and Significance of the Affordable Care Act legislation are undeniable in the United States. The health care sector has, for a long time, locked out people with financial challenges through the provision of inadequate health care services. However, the ACA legislation of 2013 brought the solution to health care insurance deficit that significantly impacted an enormous number of people in the U.s through the provision of affordable and high-quality medical care. The ACA came with a massive impact on human resources because of the increase in the number of people seeking health care services. HR had to come up with new strategies to accommodate all the clients. This consequently impacted the employees’ relations due to the lack of enough professionals in the health industry. The ACA legislation is meant to ensure inclusivity in providing services to all citizens despite their financial background or race.
Impact and Significance of the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most impactful legislation in the U.S when it comes to health care, which has profoundly impacted citizens’ lives through the provision of health insurance. The health sector has historically suffered from a significant number of people lacking any form of health insurance. However, in 2013, the ACA came in to help more people get medical insurance. There was a need to increase the insurance coverage that was less costly and also the quality of health care that was being provided, and this was all met under the new ACA legislation. The ability to help meet the cost of health care was the most significant under this legislative act as more vulnerable, and minorities could access quality health care for a small fee, which improved the standard of living. American Public Health Association (2017) states that “Repealing the ACA would hurt everyone, though racial and ethnic minorities would be particularly harmed…Urban Institute estimates the uninsured rate among African Americans would increase from 11 percent to 20 percent in 2019 if the ACA is repealed and not replaced”(2). According to the author, it is ACA legislation significantly reduced the disparities that exist in the United States, which helped the minorities to have access to a =n affordable and quality health care. Thus, ACA legislation’s importance cannot be overrun because it has catered for all citizens in America. However, there is more that needs to be done to ensure that all people are covered, which has not yet been realized.
There have been concerns about the Affordable Care Act’s impact on human resources because of the increasing number of people accessing health care. The health care workforce is one of the lucrative careers in the US, and the increase in the number of insured people will mean that there will be constraints in the health care industry, which will significantly impact the human resource. Affordable Care Act will lead to human resource overstretching to meet the growing demand for health care, and this will mean that there will be a shortage of workers in this industry. Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events; Board on Health Sciences Policy; Board on Health Care Services; Institute of Medicine (2014) claims that “There will be some workforce supply constraints, particularly for those professions that have a long lead time for training, as well as pressures to reduce costs, changes in incentives and the way that providers are paid, and increasing consolidation in the health care system.” According to the authors, the impact of ACA on the human resource will be evident as this will lead to an increase in demand on the already overstretched health care workforce. The significance of this will require that human resources evolve to accommodate the increasing number of people seeking health care services.
Additionally, the ACA impact of employee relations has improved as health care providers have been forced to adapt to new strategies to cater for the increasing number of people seeking their services. Employees’ relations have been able to meet the needs of their clients by ensuring they have a professional workforce, which involves hiring more staff that are professionally oriented and increasing the working hours. However, this has led to frustrated employee relations as most of the healthcare industry workers are forced to work long hours without proper compensation, thus leading to stress, which negatively affects the employees’ relations. The hiring of more staff is one way that employees’ relations can have a positive impact, especially in the new ACA legislation, which has mounted pressure on the whole health care workforce. Thus, employees’ relations have been affected in many ways, and this has been influenced by the evolving phase that is being witnessed in the health care workforce.
The ACA legislation has impacted the future face of health care provision by ensuring that all citizens have a chance to affordable health care insurance. According to Glied & Jackson (2017), the US Supreme Court decision to allow states to expand Medicaid to documented residents who are financially disadvantaged has ensured that more states take advantage of this decision (6). Affordable Care Act’s impact in the future is promising as states, and even the national governments seek to integrate every American citizen to the health care insurance that will likely lead to a healthier population. The inclusion of minorities and low-income earners is the most impactful because it will ensure equality in healthcare provision. The ACA’s impact on the future will also improve the opportunity for insurance to all citizens because it is cost-sensitive. Affordable Care Act legislation was initially for all U.S citizens to access affordable and quality health care in the future. This has become possible as more people are getting health care insurance than before, which means that if the ACA may become revolutionary in the future.