HEALTHCARE POLICY
It is indisputable veracity to ascertain that human life is priceless. As a consequence, it is necessary that all spheres of human living be inclined towards the preservation of life. Provision of affordable and efficient healthcare is among the most gravitas aspects aimed at ensuring that human life is sustained. However, the healthcare sector is spread across a vast scope, and it is the responsibility of every stakeholder in the industry to make a considerable impact in achieving an intelligent healthcare system. Enacting of apposite healthcare policy is hence, a significant move geared towards making healthcare more affordable and universal. Therefore, the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 is a perfect example of a healthcare policy enacted with a focal point of improving the overall health of patients.
First and foremost, Smith, English, Naidoo & Whitman (2019) indicate that the Medicaid Extenders Act was sponsored by Frank Pallone, who is the representative of the New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District. According to Bogie & Michel (2018), Mr. Frank Pallone is a Democrat, and he introduced the healthcare policy on the 4th of January 2019. President Donald Trump signed the bill on the 24th of January 2019, thus enacting it into law (Bogie & Michel 2018).
Summary of the Medicaid Extenders Act 2019
More to the point, the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 primarily revolves around the alteration of several Medicaid programs as well as the mechanism responsible for its funding. Daly (2018) confirms that the policy provides appropriations for the Financial Year 2019 and alternatively revises the money following the person rebalancing demonstration program. According to Daly (2018), this program, the institutions for Medicaid and Medicare services are obliged to provide the state’s Medicaid programs with grants. Consequently, the grants will enable the states to increase the use of both community and home care within the long-term care domain thus, decreasing by a large margin the use of institutional care (Smith, English, Naidoo & Whitman 2019).
Besides, the bill temporarily lengthens the use of Medicaid eligibility criteria that specifically protect spousal impoverishment for the recipients of both community and home-based services. More so, the law decreases the amount of the federal government medical assistance overall percentage. In order words, the bill lowers the total level of national matching rate. However, the scenario applies to only states that have failed to implement asset-verification programs that are necessary for the determination of Medicaid eligibility.
Nonetheless, Bogie & Michel (2018) point out that the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 significantly reduced the amount of funding allocation towards the Medicaid Improvement Fund, beginning in the financial Year 2021.
Strengths of the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019
The Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 provides individuals with low income with medical care covers, and thus, these individuals have to worry less concerning their access to medical services. More so, persons living with disabilities and are under the Medicaid Extenders Act are qualified even to receive payments to aid them in taking care of their needs daily. Medicare Extenders Act might as well cater to long term costs as well as several and different types of requirements.
Moreover, Young, Abdel-Massih, Herchline, McCurdy, Moyer, Scott & Siddiqui (2019) assert that the cost of expanding the Medicaid Extenders policy into states presently has been reduced. This is attributed to the fact that more states are adopting the policy. The original focal point of the Medicaid Extenders policy of 2019 was to increase the overall number of adults in the US living in between 133% of the line of poverty. The American Supreme Court made a neutral ruling in which the policy was open for either adoption or rejection by any state. Thus, states that opted to adopt the policy were able to realize cost efficiency.
Weaknesses of the Medicaid Extenders Act Of 2019
Nevertheless, a significant gap in the Medicaid Extenders policy of 2019 is the fact that it is only beneficial to a specific category of individuals. There is a widespread inclination of less wealthy individuals giving their support to the Democratic Party while the wealthy persons support the Republican Party in the US. Surprisingly, the same tenet appears to characters the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019. The states and districts that have widely embraced the policy are the Democratic Party strongholds whereas the Republican Party strongholds are docile towards embracing the plan.
Impact of the Medicaid Extenders Act Of 2019
The expansion of the Medicaid Extenders Act increases the local economies. The policy presents beneficial implications on the economies of the states that adopt it. More so, the economies of states that have been built on flexible economic structures.
Through the policy, the rate of uninsured individuals is significantly reduced. Close to 50% of the entire American workforce is obliged to health insurance from their employers. The low-income persons, as well as the self-employed individual, are the ones who are largely uninsured. Therefore, the enacting of the Medicaid Extenders policy of 2019 has significantly helped to reduce the total number of uninsured Americans.
More expansion of the policy threatens to stop the advantages emanating from the private insurance schemes. Therefore, the providers of insurance covers are exposed to losses by the system. The policy has altered the existing private insurance firm rates and mode of negotiation. The policy intensively changed the previously existing private insurers’ style of communication that generally negotiated with the medical providers to come up with special service rates. This is because the laws of the Medicaid policy put the government at the core of coming up with the rules and plans of compensation.
In summing up, therefore, the Medicaid Extenders Act of 2019 is a pivotal policy aimed at making the life of low-income Americans better. Nevertheless, it is critical for the policy to be revised even further to ensure that all Americans realize affordable and efficient healthcare.
References
Bogie, J., & Michel, A. N. (2018). Congress Should Pursue a 2019 Budget for Reconciliation. Heritage Foundation Issue Brief, (4859), 2018-05. Retrieved from https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/congress-should-pursue-2019-budget-reconciliation
Daly, R., (2018). Budget Deal Includes Big Wins for Hospitals. Healthcare Financial Management, 72(3), 7-10. Retrieved from https://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA544403373&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=07350732&p=AONE&sw=w
Smith, T. B., English, T. M., Naidoo, J., & Whitman, M. V. (2019). The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program’s Impact on Readmissions From Skilled Nursing Facilities. Journal of Healthcare Management, 64(3), 186-196. Retrieved from https://journals.lww.com/jhmonline/Fulltext/2019/06000/The_Hospital_Readmissions_Reduction_Program_s.11.aspx
Young, J. D., Abdel-Massih, R., Herchline, T., McCurdy, L., Moyer, K. J., Scott, J. D., … & Siddiqui, J. (2019). Infectious Diseases Society of America Position Statement on Telehealth and Telemedicine as Applied to the Practice of Infectious Diseases. Clinical Infectious Diseases. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/68/9/1437/5372646