The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Team B
Lisa Whitlatch, Brian Chancellor, Chanelle Christie, Cynthia Faust, Milton Griffin, Philip
Hinson, & Jacqueline Hoekema
Siena Heights University
Southfield, Michigan
August 5, 2015

Access to Care
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is supposed to provide access to care for
more patients. Our groups position is that this Act will not provide additional access for
patients. How did the ACA help Michigan? Michigan experienced a small drop in the percentage
of people who do not have health insurance since the ACAs individual mandate went into effect
(Anderson, 2015). In 2013, the uninsured rate was 12.5 percent; as of mid-2014, it stood at 11.9
percent. Much of this increase in the insured is due to payment subsidies and federal Medicaid
changes. Indiana did not adopt the Medicaid changes and they only saw a 0.3% decrease in their
uninsured residents from 2013 to mid-2014 (Anderson, 2014). Other states reported comparable
numbers. Is one-third to one and a half percent really a vast improvement in patient access? Our
group would say no and that we can and should do better and that the ACA is not the answer.
If I were to lose my insurance and utilize the Michiganhealthinsurance.org website to find
a new plan, my best option would cost $308.27 (2015). This includes a $6,300 deductible and
$40 co-pay for each doctor visit. Adding a spouse would bring my cost to $729.36 and a
$12,600 deductible. If a child is added, my monthly cost would now be $1,204.48. I no longer
have a deductible, but my co-pay for all services is 20%. Ok, so now I we would have access to
care, but could we afford it? Access to care is not helpful, if it is not attainable or affordable.
Clicking on the tax credits may reduce the monthly payment in half, but we will be hoping
nothing happens to anyone and that still takes a huge chunk out of our monthly family budget.
Checking the rates for several other states yielded about the same monthly costs, with variations
mainly noted with the deductibles.
The Trauma Care Systems Planning and Development Act was established in 1990, but
has lacked funding (Sangji & McDonald, 2014). The Affordable Care Act authorized $12

million annually through 2014, but none of this money was ever appropriated. The National
Trauma Center Stabilization Act was authorized annually with an amount of $100 million via
this bill through 2014, but it was never appropriated either. The importance of this is because
between 1990 and 2005, thirty percent of all trauma centers closed due to the high cost of trauma
care and low rates of reimbursement (Sangji & McDonald, 2014). The ACA has failed to
provide increased access to care for the American public.
The new regulations will require doctors to spend more time doing paperwork and less
time seeing their patients (Fodeman, 2015). Reductions in reimbursements will also make
physicians see more patients in the same amount of time or even less in order to have the same
amount of reimbursements entering their practice. There is a national shortage of physicians
based on a 2012 state workforce study (Anderson, 2014). Thirty to thirty four million Americans
are expected to gain insurance through the ACA, but who will they see? This is not better.