Affordable Care Act (ACA) Role in Ending Health Disparities
The United States in the past has spent less on public health activities when compared to the administrative overhead of medical care and insurance, however, though the Affordable Care Act a projected $15 billion will be provided for expansion of public health services. An increase in public health spending by 10 percent has been associated with reductions in infant mortality by 6.85 percent, cardiovascular deaths by 3.22 percent, diabetes death by 1.44 percent and cancer deaths by 1.13 percent. Many minority communities lack sufficient funds and resources, therefore, these neighborhoods could benefit significantly from this added financial resource that can help narrow that gap of inequality. |title=HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities: A Nation Free of Disparities in Health and Health Care.|journal=U.S. Department of Health and Human Services|year=2011|month=April}} These additional measures will add to the benefits from expanded insurance coverage through the exchange programs, Medicare, and Medicaid. The ACA is providing the opportunity for millions of uninsured to have access to quality care. The previously uninsured will have multiple programs to help facilitate healthier living such as community promotoras, and racial and ethnic approaches to community health (REACH). Furthermore, the ACA is creating cultural and linguistic standards for healthcare professionals working in federally funded centers to maintain and meet the needs of the diverse population that is vulnerable to unequal access.
Read more about this topic: Health Equity
Famous quotes containing the words affordable, care, act, role, health and/or disparities:
“His ugliness was the stuff of legend. In an age of affordable beauty, there was something heraldic about his lack of it. The antique arm whined as he reached for another mug. It was a Russian military prosthesis, a seven-function force-feedback manipulator, cased in grubby pink plastic.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“Your child has the capacity to care for more than one person at a time. The affection she feels for her caregiver doesn’t diminish the love she feels for you. Your caregiver isn’t your competition. She is your ally.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“Each victim of suicide gives his act a personal stamp which expresses his temperament, the special conditions in which he is involved, and which, consequently, cannot be explained by the social and general causes of the phenomenon.”
—Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)
“The Declaration [of Independence] was not a protest against government, but against the excess of government. It prescribed the proper role of government, to secure the rights of individuals and to effect their safety and happiness. In modern society, no individual can do this alone. So government is not a necessary evil but a necessary good.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Let it be an alliance of two large, formidable natures, mutually beheld, mutually feared, before yet they recognize the deep identity which beneath these disparities unites them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)