Health Insurance: The Affordable Care Act

Health insurance has been a controversial topic for many years. Most people tend to think, assuming they live in the United States, that all citizens should have some form of access to health care. But in reality, many people are unable to afford health insurance so they end up going without health care because that in itself is also expensive. Even when the Affordable Care Act was put into place, people were still facing the lack of coverage due to the high cost of insurance, absence of employment providing health insurance, and people not able to be eligible for public coverage. There are certain consequences when it comes to not being able to obtain health insurance. It has been shown that people who are uninsured are less likely to seek
Some private insurances and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) offer hospice care benefits. Depending on the type of private insurance or HMO plan you are on, determines the amount of coverage for hospice care benefits. Not all insurances or HMOs offer hospice care benefits, but majority of them do. Hospice care can be defined as a type of care to ensure that the final months of a patient’s life are considered to follow the quality of life of said patient. Hospice is not a sign of giving up like most people make it out to be. It is all about giving the patient and family comfort, control, dignity, and quality of life in their last months. A type of hospice care is palliative care which is care that relieves or soothes a patient’s symptoms of disease or disorder. Palliative care is not hospice, but all hospice is palliative
The website palliativedoctors.org states that “Medicare A covers all services, medications, and equipment provided through a hospice program.” To be one of these recipients, two doctors have to determine a life expectancy of the patient to have 6 months or less to live assuming that the disease follows its natural course. Medicare Part B, which is only optional if the individual chooses to pay for the extra benefits, may offer palliative depending on the type of treatment that the patient is receiving. Medicaid is another government funded program that covers individuals who have very limited, if any, income and resources. The coverage of Medicaid varies from state to state since it is a state funded program. Medicaid offers hospice benefits to 45 out of the 50 states, including Washington, DC. With the information provided, Hospice is a part of most health maintenance organizations. It all just depends on the level of coverage each plan