The new health care law has already aided millions of Americans afford better quality health insurance, helped to reform the health insurance industry, and has expanded Americans healthcare rights. The bill also aims to reduce wasteful spending in healthcare. If you are researching the law for the first time we strongly suggest you check out our ObamaCare facts page as it gives an excellent overview of everything you could ever want to know about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Government Work. Besides administrative and proprietary drug costs, high cost disparities between the U. Coverage in the Exchange would be accessible, reliable, and meaningful. He recognizes the importance of giving the American people this choice, which would also challenge private insurers to compete on cost and quality, not cream-skimming and risk selection.
At the same time, he recognizes the importance of a level playing field between plans and ensuring that private insurance plans are not disadvantaged. For individuals who are not eligible for employer-based coverage and who cannot afford insurance, subsidies will be provided to purchase an insurance plan of their choice. Sources of year savings in billions of dollars from specific health care reform measures.
Taking your product to the U. Available at: www. Accessed May 1, Moreover, health reform, along with the Recovery Act investments, will yield long-run cost savings for both taxpayers and the federal government. Our goal is to fix our broken system in a fair and fiscally responsible manner, covering all Americans and lowering the long-run growth of health care. Reflecting this urgency in the very early days of the Obama administration, substantial financing for health care reform policies had already been established.
Access to care and a supply of well-trained professionals both need to be addressed because they are interrelated, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Adapted from Steinbrook R.
N Engl J Med ; 11 — The budget President Obama has proposed for also includes substantial funding for health care reform. The budget also provides resources to reduce health disparities in subpopulations, such as women and minorities, a goal that the President has identified as important to his administration.
President Obama recognizes that in order to expand health coverage and the availability of drugs to the U. One reason for such a central role in the Obama health care reform agenda is that substantial cost savings from increased generic drug use have already been noted. The Medicare Part D Drug Program is costing the federal government and Medicare enrollees much less than originally projected partly because of greater use of generic medications.
Regarding this trend, Joseph Hill observed:. With few exceptions, payers recognize the value of generic drugs, so there has been a drive toward generic drug use as formularies and preferred drug lists are set up for state Medicaid programs.
For Medicare Part D, there is also a sense that generic drugs are, more often than not, the better alternative based on therapeutic value and cost. The data now indicate that although prescription drug costs were once the most rapidly rising segment of health care costs, these expenditures are now among the slowest-growing categories.
To this end, several measures are planned to promote an even greater availability and utilization of generic drugs. One proposed strategy is to ban generic settlements, which will outlaw agreements between innovator and generic companies that delay entry of generic drugs to the market. Establishment of an abbreviated pathway for the approval of biosimilars is expected to reduce drug costs because expensive biologic drugs are contributing to rapidly rising health care costs.
Although it is agreed that the availability of generic biologics will reduce health care costs, this reform measure does have opponents. Campbell, Jr. Proving that a biologic drug is bioequivalent will be a difficult task because you are dealing with much more complex chemical structures.
Safety is always a top concern for any medication, and this would especially be true for generic biologics. Reporting adverse drug reactions is a voluntary process for health care professionals and organizations, so there needs to be thorough reporting of any suspected events to the FDA, so that if a pattern develops with a particular product, a detailed analysis can be undertaken.
The theory behind a generic drug is that it is completely interchangeable with the brand drug—they have the same molecular structure and therefore the same therapeutic value. Overcoming safety and therapeutic efficacy concerns will be extremely important to the success of a biosimilars program.
If the availability of generic biologics proves to be favorable, the marketing exclusivity period for branded biologics may be shortened further, especially if health care costs continue to rise in a slow economy.
Another possible health care cost-cutting strategy being considered by President Obama is drug reimportation. Other countries do have lower drug costs, but whether there are savings to be had by purchasing or reimporting drugs from abroad is questionable. Countries such as Canada have lower prices than the U.
The decline in consumer interest may be a result of extending drug coverage to seniors through Medicare Part D, which has eliminated potential participants in reimportation programs. Another important concern about the reimportation of drugs from a developed country like Canada is that the drug supplies are limited and cannot serve the needs of the entire U.
It stands to reason that Canada may not have a large enough drug supply for both its own citizens and a good portion of U. Therefore, there would likely be issues of supply and demand. There would need to be noticeable increase in supply to drive down drug costs in the U. It is simply not a long-term solution.
A few drug companies in the U. In addition, a FDA study revealed that purchasing some drugs in Canada might actually be more expensive. The FDA found that Americans purchasing drugs in Canada might be paying significantly more than if they had purchased the generic equivalent in the U.
Even if cost savings are found to be possible, safety concerns regarding drug reimportation are daunting. Concerns regarding safety, efficacy, and therapeutic equivalency have long been obstacles to legalizing drug reimportation in the U.
ASHP and other pharmacy associations have raised concerns about product integrity. While there is recognition that there could be some cost savings from reimportation, there would certainly need to be some significant safeguards at the federal and state level to ensure the integrity of the supply chain. Reimported proprietary drugs are often manufactured in the U. The FDA also contends that legalizing drug reimportation might facilitate the entry of counterfeit medications into the U.
Our concerns are even more acute because people often buy these prescription drugs via the Internet. Web sites may state that the facility is located in Canada or another developed country, but in fact you as a consumer have no assurance where that actual pharmacy is. Many Web sites dispense expired, subpotent, contaminated, or counterfeit products. Data from the FDA. The FDA has said that reimportation legislation would also severely burden the FDA regulatory system, noting that the federal government is already responsible for the massive task of checking for illegal drug imports entering through ports and the mail.
We have a better understanding of the challenges that go along to support the importation. The FDA has been severely criticized for its inability to properly inspect overseas manufacturing facilities, where some reimported drugs may originate. We all know that the FDA has not performed as well as it should in recent years, whether we look at recent food safety outbreaks, unsafe drugs such as Vioxx being pulled off the market, or intentional adulteration of products such as the melamine contaminated pet foods and infant formula.
As such, reimportation is not likely until FDA reforms and funding are in place and public confidence in the agency is restored. President Obama has included funding for the FDA to establish a drug reimportation program in his budget. Two potential concerns for drug plans and health care facilities regarding drug reimportation have been suggested. Full protection against liability issues is difficult to achieve. You would think your supplier is fully compliant with the law, but outside of going up there and inspecting their facilities, you may not have all the information you need to be sure that these products are safe.
A program of random sampling or other safety checks would be needed. Investment in a national HIT system is expected to promote efficiency and quality and to lead to substantial health care savings. While improving health care quality is a primary benefit of a nationwide interoperable health IT infrastructure, cost savings from reducing clinical redundancy and error, as well as from reducing greater administrative efficiencies, are fundamental goals that must be realized if we are truly going to reform our health care system.
The Summer EBT demonstration project is meant to help bridge that gap. The Healthy Food Financing Initiative HFFI has brought grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to low-income, low-access communities in urban and rural communities across America. Without alternatives, residents of these communities often have to travel long distances to shop or rely on fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer little or no fresh food.
With technical assistance, improved access to capital, and financial support for retailers and other businesses in the food supply chain, HFFI is expanding access to nutritious food in these communities.
Here are their key points on the work ahead to improve health for all Americans. A recent study shows nearly 30 million Americans would lose their coverage under one version of repeal as well. The passage of MACRA was a monumental step forward in the effort to reward quality and value in physician payments; however, additional federal legislation should be considered that would use payment incentives to drive the delivery of value-based health care throughout the entire health care system, improve the interoperability of data, and integrate care.
The opioid crisis disproportionately affects rural communities in part due to the lack of outreach and treatment resources available in remote areas. After hearing from mothers and fathers who've lost their children to opioid misuse, and listening to mayors and medical personnel appeal for greater treatment resources, it's clear that rural communities need our help. Strengthening the multi-sectoral approach will benefit long-term health systems and the ability to respond effectively to outbreaks.
Improving Health for All Americans President Obama promised that he would make quality, affordable health care not a privilege, but a right. Embedded video for Improving Health for All Americans. Improved Access to Care.
Created a new pathway to advance biosimilars, with the potential to lower costs for patients on high-cost biologics: wh. Improving Access to Home- and Community-Based Services In recent years, the Administration has expanded efforts to ensure that older adults and individuals with disabilities have access to person-centered services in community settings. CMS: Early Retiree Reinsurance Program "The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program ERRP was included in the Affordable Care Act ACA to provide financial assistance to employment-based health plan sponsors—including for-profit companies, schools and educational institutions, unions, State and local governments, religious organizations and other nonprofit plan sponsors—that make coverage available to millions of early retirees and their spouses, surviving spouses, and dependents.
Kaiser Family Health Foundation: Explaining the temporary high-risk pool The health reform law created a temporary national high-risk pool to provide health coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions who had been uninsured for six months. HHS: Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting "HRSA, in close partnership with the Administration for Children and Families ACF , funds States, territories and tribal entities to develop and implement voluntary, evidence-based home visiting programs using models that are proven to improve child health and to be cost effective.
What is a Health Center? Since , more than 3 million additional children have gained health insurance. The Precision Medicine Initiative: The next great revolution in medicine will emerge from an ability to use genomic, lifestyle, behavioral, environmental, imaging, and clinical data to understand health and disease, and to use those insights to develop tailored prevention approaches and medical treatments.
The Precision Medicine Initiative, launched by President Obama, will revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease. BRAIN Initiative researchers and public-private collaborating organizations are pursuing an ambitious year research agenda.
The Obama administration o penly reviewed and modernized the regulatory system for biotechnology products to improve transparency and ensure continued safety in biotechnology. The economic case for deploying new health care payment models: Read More. Improved Accountability, Efficiency, and Quality of Care. Elder Justice Policy Brief Elder abuse is a serious public health problem affecting millions of older Americans each year, with some studies suggesting that as few as one in 23 cases is reported to authorities.
Read More Visit the Open Payments homepage. Learn more about electronic health records. Addressed the Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic. Read More The HHS also took action to enable nurse practitioners NPs and physician assistants PAs to begin taking the required training to prescribe the opioid use disorder treatment, buprenorphine. Read more here. See the map of communities here. Read the Presidential Memorandum here: Read More. Learn more about Tack-Back Day here: Read More The Administration also finalized a rule making it easier for communities to establish ongoing drug take-back programs to reduce the amount of unused prescription drugs in homes.
Read the Report here. Increased Access to Mental Health Services. See the list of preventive services. HHS: Prevention and Public Health Fund The Affordable Care Act established the Prevention and Public Health Fund to provide expanded and sustained national investments in prevention and public health, to improve health outcomes, and to enhance health care quality.
Ensured that any food or beverage that is marketed on school campuses during the school day meets the Smart Snacks in School nutrition standards Smart Snacks in School standards apply to foods sold a la carte, in the school store, and vending machines.
They are required to be updated every 5 years and serve as the foundation for vital nutrition policies and programs across the U. The DGA is designed for nutrition and health professionals to help all individuals ages 2 years and older and their families consume a healthy, nutritionally adequate diet.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on the importance of a healthy eating pattern. MyPlate is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and serves as a visual reminder for consumers to follow a healthy eating pattern. MiPlato was released in
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