What are the most important elements of the Affordable Care Act in relation to community and public health?

250 WORDS CITATION AND REFERENCES

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. Many of the provisions of the law directly affect health care providers. Review the following topic materials:

1. “About the Affordable Care Act”
2. “Health Care Transformation: The Affordable Care Act and More”

What are the most important elements of the Affordable Care Act in relation to community and public health? What is the role of the nurse in implementing this law?

Instructor post

Today, seven in 10 deaths in the U.S. are related to chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer, which are largely preventable. Additionally, 86 percent of our health care dollars are spent treating such diseases. However, only three cents of each health care dollar spent in the U.S. go toward prevention (American Public Health Association, 2019).

Though the ACA provided coverage for 20 million Americans, there are still 29 million Americans out there that do not have coverage. Will those people focus their health care to preventative care? How can the Community health nurse help to change the focus to prevention if people can not afford insurance, can they afford out of pocket preventative care?

American Public Health Association.(2019) Health reform. Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/health-reform