ACA has introduced a set of policies and requirements that should be acknowledged by the U.S. citizens. First of all, all the individuals must have coverage or they will have to deal with a penalty. Subsidies are provided to people that cannot afford it. Most employers must offer insurance plans or they will have to pay enormous fees. Public programs are also expanded and changes to premium subsidies were also established.
Additional taxation on such services as outdoor tanning and others was introduced to cover up for an increase in expenses on healthcare (Healthcare Triage, 2013). The current situation may be viewed as an improvement. The number of individuals that gained the coverage is quite significant. However, the problem is that the spending on healthcare is growing at rapid rates, and the most problematic aspects of the system were not addressed.
ACA Impact
It is possible to state that ACA has improved health outcomes in the U.S. because many more individuals got an opportunity to sign up for Medicaid and gained access to healthcare services. However, its overall impact is relatively small and it was not able to accomplish its primary purpose. It was suggested that the new system would be much closer to universal, but numerous other complications were introduced. For instance, health professional shortages are particularly problematic. It is quite evident that funds are spent inefficiently, and the situation may not be improved by increasing the number of enrollees (Vlogbrothers, 2015).
Comparison
The fact that the overall health of the population is lower in the U.S. than in other regions is intriguing because the amount of funds spent on health care is tremendous. The current system spends nearly twice as much on pharmaceuticals than other countries. One of the biggest differences that should be highlighted is that much more attention is devoted to new technologies and evidence-based practice.
For instance, 35.5 MRI machines are available in the U.S. per million of citizens, 13.4 in Australia, 8.8. in Canada, and 6.1 in the U.K. The number of positive outcomes should be much higher according to available data. However, the problem is that the number of hospital beds is much lower. The cost of procedures is also disproportional, and the access to healthcare is problematic because of staffing strategies (Bartlett, 2013). It is possible to state that the difference between the systems is enormous, and the U.S. should consider the experience of other countries, and make appropriate alterations.
APRN Role
It is imperative to note that APRNs play a crucial role in the healthcare today. ACA has introduced a set of policies that have affected such professionals. It is suggested that they help to reduce the amount of funds spent on healthcare, and increase the overall efficiency of the treatment. The level of access has increased, and many patients can get prompt treatment without enormous barriers or limitations.
Many studies suggest that they are capable of providing high-quality services and should have an opportunity to fill up some of the gaps that healthcare institutions have to deal with at the moment. The overall goal of APRNs is to focus on lifelong learning to stay competent and have an understanding of latest techniques and policies. Such professionals should be used to address the cost problem, and available evidence is sufficient and can be used to support such reforms (Bauer, 2010).
References
Bartlett, B. (2013). How America’s health system stacks up against other developed countries. The Fiscal Times. Web.
Bauer, J. C. (2010). Nurse practitioners as an underutilized resource for health reform: Evidence-based demonstrations of cost-effectiveness. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, 22(4), 228-231.
Healthcare Triage. (2013). Obamacare and october 1st: Healthcare triage #1. Web.
Vlogbrothers. (2015). Is Obamacare working? The Affordable Care Act five years later. Web.