Brief summary of the policy The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The law established essential remedies that did not yet exist: an almost universal guarantee of access to affordable health insurance from birth to retirement. After complete implementation, this reduced the number of uninsured Americans by more than half. At the same time, approximately 94% of the American population received health insurance coverage, and the number of uninsured persons decreased. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) required companies to introduce group health insurance for at least 95 percent of their qualified employees. However, if the business does not comply with this requirement, a fine will be imposed. The law creates a nationwide insurance system and provides federal subsidies to reduce the number of uninsured citizens. The legislation also increases the Medicaid plan to cover more low-income people. (Protection, patient, and affordable care act, 2010). Thus, national health policies have made it easier to obtain a vaccination, which has helped to improve the health of the population.
The pro-con side of the policy
The chosen policy deserves the highest score because almost every citizen has insurance after its implementation in the United States. The ACA reform provides for the free provision of vaccines recommended by the ACIP. As a result, 190 million people with private insurance have access to ACIP-approved vaccinations. Moreover, according to the law, immunization also applies to the population under 26 years of age, reckless of their medical coverage. Notably, the legislation does not require a vaccination coverage plan and can be provided by an out-of-network provider (Protection, patient, and affordable care act, 2010). Even though, at the start of the pandemic, the number of uninsured humans increased due to the refusal of some state politicians to participate in the extension of the ACA to Medicaid. In this case, many people are deprived of the necessary care or have spent a lot of money on medical care. Thus, the policy supports the introduction of vaccination and creates available criteria for more people to apply for the program. However, the legislation does not force citizens to be vaccinated and enables them to use other benefits of the law. Therefore, everyone can decide about exercising the right to vaccination, which demonstrates the versatility of the law.
Work Cited
Protection, Patient, and affordable care act. ‘Patient protection and affordable care act.’ Public law 111.48, 2010, 759-762