The Assignment: (1- to 2-page Legislation Grid; 1-page Legislation Testimony/Advocacy Statement) Be sure to add a title page, an introduction, purpose statement, and a conclusion. This is an APA paper. Part 1: Legislation Grid Based on the health-related bill (proposed, not enacted) you selected, complete the Legislation Grid Template. Be sure to address the following: Determine the legislative intent of the bill you have reviewed. Identify the proponents/opponents of the bill. Identify the target populations addressed by the bill. Where in the process is the bill currently? Is it in hearings or committees?

The Assignment: (1- to 2-page Legislation Grid; 1-page Legislation Testimony/Advocacy Statement) Be sure to add a title page, an introduction, purpose statement, and a conclusion. This is an APA paper. Part 1: Legislation Grid Based on the health-related bill (proposed, not enacted) you selected, complete the Legislation Grid Template. Be sure to address the following: Determine the legislative intent of the bill you have reviewed. Identify the proponents/opponents of the bill. Identify the target populations addressed by the bill. Where in the process is the bill currently? Is it in hearings or committees?

In my opinion, the Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3962) is good since it offers an opportunity to get affordable, comprehensive health coverage and encourages high-quality care to patients regardless of their financial status. Notably, a huge difference is identified from

Assignment Legislation Grid and Testimony Advocacy Statement

the previous years before the approval of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. For instance, approximately 48 million Americans would incur a high cost of health coverage due to a lack of affordable health insurance (Collins et al., 2017). The high cost of health care directly impacts family shares of employer-based coverage, consumers, and business whereby the Affordable Care Act has helped solve the problem. Additionally, the Affordable care act has supported research by helping in tracking key health measures which reduce the disparities in health insurance coverage.

The Affordable Care Act opponents suggested that the bill eliminated the individual mandate by requiring the residents to pay a penalty or have health insurance, thus that more people entered the insurance market. I would address the issue that the penalty, inform of tax, is a way of setting discipline to the residents and encourage them to have health insurance cover for easy access to high and quality services (Galvani et al., 2020). For instance, by eliminating the penalty, an increase in the insurance premium will rise, limiting healthy people from securing insurance cover (Laureate Education, 2018). Additionally, the affordable care act bill helped expand Medicaid eligibility beyond families, thus raising the income threshold since it included low-income adults. Therefore, most people who gained health care coverage after the passage of the Affordable Care Act also get enrolled in Medicaid, thus proving its popularity.

References

Collins, S. R., Gunja, M. Z., Doty, M. M., & Beutel, S. (2017). How the Affordable Care Act has improved Americans’ ability to buy health insurance on their own. Retrieved March, 29, 2017.

Galvani, A. P., Parpia, A. S., Foster, E. M., Singer, B. H., & Fitzpatrick, M. C. (2020).

Improving the prognosis of health care in the USA. The Lancet, 395(10223), 524-533. https://www.congress.gov/help/legislative-glossary/#glossary_billsummary