Critical Next Steps Under the Affordable Care Act - Term Paper Example

Introduction The Affordable healthcare Act, which has been commonly known as Obamacare will definitely affect the way healthcare marketing is going to be done in the USA in the future. The act was designed to solve the many healthcare issues in the USA such as low affordability of healthcare, government cost of delivering healthcare and poor services by privacy insurers. The debate on whether the act will be able to make healthcare more affordable, as its name suggests, is very hot. Those who support it say that it will help improve healthcare in the USA and those who do not support it say that it will only make things worse. The Affordable healthcare Act however does not just look at the issue of affordability, it looks on so many factors. The factors that the Affordable healthcare Act has addressed are so many that they could not have been implemented all at once without causing some disruption in the market. As a result, it is being implemented in steps, with the last bit expected to be implemented in 2022, over twenty years after the first bit was implemented in 2012. Some of the issues in the Affordable healthcare Act that will affect the way healthcare marketing is done are as follows; Insurance dropping a patient when he or she is sick One of the biggest problem that have faced the American healthcare in the last few decades was not just the inability by millions of Americans to afford health insurance, but the fact that insurance companies have been seen to not be faithful to their promise after a patient who has been paying them premiums gets sick (Selker & Wasser, 2013). This has been a challenge and many Americans have suffered in the past because they would hope to be covered when they were sick only for the insurance company they had insured themselves through coming up with excuses as to why they cannot be compensated. The affordable care act is very useful in making sure that the insurance firms will have to be accountable in making sure that they cover the patients when they get sick (Zuniga, Marks, & Gostin, 2013). This is going to bring in a new paradigm in the healthcare market. Definitely, the fact that most people were losing hope with insurance firms meant that they were choosing to not buy health insurance. This meant that even those who could afford healthcare insurance were becoming suspicious and refusing to buy it, thus increasing the number of people who have not been covered. The other issue that the affordable healthcare act seeks to solve is the issue of insurance companies refusing to pay out when an applicant makes an honest mistake on their application. This is one issue that has stained the American healthcare insurance and needs to be addressed. The affordable healthcare act does not only seek to make healthcare to be affordable, but also seeks to make sure that the environment is regulated for the protection of the consumers. This will increase the faith in people with regard to the efficacy of health insurance in curbing healthcare issues. Gender discrimination is another issue that is addressed in the Affordable Healthcare Act. Insurance firms have to change their strategy with regard to how they approach the market. Discriminating against patient based on their gender or preexisting medical conditions will also be a thing of the past. Such patients as people with preexisting conditions were finding it hard to get insurance and when they did, they would face the risk of not being compensated once they got sick because the insurance firm would site that they had a preexisting condition that they refused to mention in their application and hat this did not go in line with the firm’s policy. However, the marketing paradigm is changing with regard to who should be covered. All people have a right to healthcare, irrespective of their age, gender or if they have a natural preexisting health condition. This view of how the healthcare market, and especially the health insurance market should be, is reinforced by the Affordable Healthcare Act. All people can now affords and be eligible for insurance coverage, regardless of these factors and that is important in the development of the healthcare industry. Unjustified rate hike is also another factor that has been a major problem with regard to the American healthcare market. Consumers would not know when their providers would hike rates. This hiking of rates made it harder for those already with insurance policies to be unable to continue with the policy or to have to struggle very much to sustain their policies. What the Affordable Healthcare Act wanted to do is to make sure that when a person buys an insurance product, he or she can be able to predict the continued cost (annual or monthly) premiums. However, with healthcare insurance firms adjusting their rates every time without giving a valid reason, this has been a big problem. In this regard, healthcare marketing has to be different in the way marketers look at the market. The insurance affordable healthcare act also gives the patient the right to a rapid appeal of insurance company decisions. As has been discussed, the insurance companies in most cases make a decision that leaves the policy holders with no choice but to pay for their own healthcare cost even when they have been down paying a lot of cash to pay the insurance premiums. Sometimes these decisions have to do with the contract that the consumer of the insurance product signs and the insurance company can decide that the customer made false calling with regard to his or her details. This in most cases is brought about by the fact that the buyer may have made a genuine mistake and in this case, there is no necessity for the person to be denied service. With the affordable healthcare act, patients are given the option to not just appeal these decisions that may affect them adversely, but to also appeal in a rapid way. This is in recognition that healthcare matters are always urgent and need urgent situations. For instance, if a patient has fallen sick and the insurance has decided to not pay for their healthcare due to varied reasons, the person may not have the luxury to wait for a long court battle with the insurance, they need a rapid way to appeal these decisions and know if they are getting their insurance compensation to cover their healthcare costs. The Affordable Healthcare Act is intended to solve this issue and therefore many insurance firms will find themselves being required to change the way they look at the market. Insurance marketers will have to listen to the market and be able to give them what they need as opposed to dictating the terms of engagement (Tate, 2012). Changing the paradigm in the marketing of health insurance Insurance has to be changed so that is addresses the fact that it is not just business, but business that deals with the life and heath of people. In this case, healthcare is a product that must be accessible and affordable by all, regardless of economic status. It should not be a product that everyone, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, age gender, sexual orientation or any other factor that can define a person, will be able to access the product. Whether the insurance product is from the government such as the health insurance by the Affordable Healthcare Act, or from a private insurer must be able to take care of this factor, that the product it is selling has a fundamental impact on the people who buy it, and the people have to be assured that if they buy this product, they are guaranteed of they will be able to access healthcare when they need it. Other factors in the affordable healthcare that may affect the healthcare marketing or private insurers include the following;’ Expand coverage to tens of millions As it is commonly known now, the Affordable Healthcare Act is geared towards making sure that as many people as is feasible are able to afford and actually buy health insurance. As of now, only about two years after the fist module of the Affordable Healthcare Act was implemented, over fifteen million new people in the US have now been able to get insurance cover. As a result, it can be argued that the Affordable Healthcare Act has been able to increase market awareness about the need for insurance. The increase in the purchase of healthcare insurance can be attributed to three major factors associated with the implementation of the Obamacare healthcare act. These are as follows; More awareness in the market Due to the heated debate that the affordable healthcare elicited, it has revised the debate in the efficacy of the use of healthcare insurance. This increased awareness and sensitized millions of Americans with regard to the need for buying heath insurance. In fact, this awareness is a very important part of healthcare marketing and this is the first step to marketing healthcare to the masses. More people need exposure and sensitization with regard to healthcare marketing. Even if the affordable healthcare was to be judged wrongly on whether it has made healthcare cheaper or more expensive, it can be said with confidence that it has contributed positively and very largely with regard to creating awareness of healthcare insurance. Increased faith in the efficacy of healthcare The other way that the act has affected healthcare marketing is by increasing the faith of people with regard to the people having faith in insurance. In the past, this was seen to diminish, especially among those who can only afford the lower tier premiums. With so many issues coming up and being exposed through the mainstream media such as the documentary by the famous Mike Moor about healthcare insurance and how most private insurance companies are exploiting people by failing to pay out their dues when the need for healthcare comes, most people in the USA were losing their faith with regard to buying insurance. Affable Healthcare Act has been seen to reverse the fear by the people and now many people are having faith in the efficacy of healthcare (Reiboldt & Mallers, 2013). It can be argued that the over 15 million people who have bought health insurance through the affordable healthcare act have been able to do this because their faith in the efficacy of healthcare has been revived. This is definitely a good step with regard to healthcare marketing. Reduced costs Reduced costs due to the implementation of affordable healthcare act have also been another issue that has led to more people buying healthcare. With regard to healthcare marketing, this is also another important dimension. While most private insurers may not like this new trend with regard to the fact that it might affect their profitability, it has made it possible for many people to be able to buy healthcare insurance. Subsidize health insurance costs has been the centerpiece for the affordable healthcare act. This has been able to help the people to buy health insurance. How the healthcare act will affect the private insurance One of the issues that have elicited debate with regard to the affordable healthcare act is with regard to how it will affect the number of people who will be buying from the private insurers (Polsky & Rowland, 2013). It was feared that the affordable healthcare act would affect the private insurers in a negative way. However, figures and facts seem to defy this claim in a number of ways. For instance, since the act was implemented, or rather the first modules of the act in 2012, there have been an increase in the number of people who have bought insurance from private insurers. The number of private insurers in the United States has also been seen to increase by 26%. This shows that the affordable healthcare will not move private insurers from the market, but will only act as a complement in the market. The affordable healthcare act will only help in meeting the needs of the part of the market that the private insurers had not been able to meet but will not necessarily compete with the private insurers (Davidson, 2013). Profitability and covering the high risk customers This is an even bigger issue with regard to how the healthcare act is going to relate with the private insurers. While there is a need to recognize that the patient heath needs have to come first, it is also necessary to recognize that private insurers are for profit businesses that must be able to make a profit for its owners. The issue that then arises is that since the fact that this act requires the private insurers to cover even patients with preexisting conditions can affect the firms’ profitability and even make them to make losses. This is what most insurers have to fear with regard to covering people who have preexisting conditions. All other businesses are not forced to serve the kinds of customers who they do not seem to be profitable. This means that there is a necessity to create a balance between the business part of it and the humane part of selling healthcare insurance. Whatever the case, it is clear that healthcare marketing is going to change even as the affordable healthcare act becomes more popular. The affordable healthcare act is geared to give an option to those who may not feel that they are acquiring what they need from their private insurers. As these customers get more alternatives, private insurers will have to be able to compete more for customers and this will lead to increased competition. What this will mean is that the firms will have to create customer-driven services where the needs and requirements of the customers are considered seriously. The end result will be a better healthcare market where everybody can afford healthcare and quality healthcare for that matter. The argument that the affordable healthcare act will increase the cost of healthcare insurance as it will increase demand can be viewed from a number of angles. To begin with, it is necessary to understand that unlike most products in other markets, the way insurance products are affected by increased demand is different. With healthcare insurance, the more the demand, the lower the prices. This applies to all types of insurance and not just healthcare insurance. The rationale behind this is that insurance is a pooling of risk and the more people pool t heir risk together, the lower the cost of that risk. As more people buy insurance, the risks go don for each of them and for the insurers themselves. This will lead to the cost for the insurers to go down and therefore the cost on the consumers to go down as well. As a result, it cannot be argues that the cost of insurance will go higher as more people buy health insurance. References Davidson, S. (2013). A New Era in U.S. Health Care: Critical Next Steps Under the Affordable Care Act. Boston, NY: Stanford University Press. Polsky, G., & Rowland, A. (2013). Selling Healthcare: 5 Strategies to Create High-Return Relationships in Healthcare Sales. New York, NY: Que Publishing. Reiboldt, W., & Mallers, M. (2013). Consumer Survival: An Encyclopedia of Consumer Rights, Safety, and Protection [2 Volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Consumer Rights, Safety, and Protection. New York, NY: ABC-CLIO. Selker, H., & Wasser, J. (2013). The Affordable Care Act as a National Experiment: Health Policy Innovations and Lessons. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media. Tate, J. (2012). ObamaCare Survival Guide: The Affordable Care Act and What it Means for You and Your Healthcare. New York, NY: Humanix Books. Zuniga, J., Marks, S., & Gostin, L. (2013). Advancing the Human Right to Health. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Read More