Health Insurance
Health insurance covers an insured person’s health, including injuries, diseases, risks of injuries and disease, and related medical, surgical, and medication expenses. Health insurance may also cover costs related to preventive care. Based on the agreed coverage plan, the insurer may cover the whole risk or share the expenses incurred during treatment with the insured individual through monthly premiums. Therefore, health insurance subsidizes the costs of health care services for the insured individual.
Benefits of Health Insurance
Health insurance benefits and improves the accessibility of health care services. Health insurance covers the financial expenses of health services in outpatient and inpatient settings, improving the accessibility of health services for covered individuals (Bodhisane & Pongpanich, 2019). People with health insurance are protected against insurmountable expenses due to unexpected and catastrophic health incidences and conditions. This means that the covered individual can access health care services as needed with health insurance. Health insurance further supports continued access to health services by reducing the costs of such health services.
Additionally, health insurance improves the perception of the affordability of healthcare services, improving access and utilization. For example, a person with health care insurance involved in a life-threatening incident such as an accident is confident that they can access emergency services and follow-up care regardless of their current financial status. Another benefit of health insurance in improving access to health care services is that insured people can access routine health care maintenance and preventive services such as screening. Therefore, they have a lower risk of diseases and lower out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures than uninsured people.
Barriers to Accessing Healthcare
There are various barriers to access to health care services. The major barriers to accessing healthcare in the U.S are related to financial and immigration status. Financial barriers to healthcare access are related to the ability to afford health insurance or cover for care services. People from low-income backgrounds are more likely to lack health insurance or are, in most cases, underinsured. Over 28 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2020 (Keisler-Starkey & Bunch, 2021). Uninsured or underinsured populations have limited access to health care and other preventive services, including disease screening. This means that over 8.6 per cent of the U.S lacked ready access to healthcare services and were living with unmet health needs.
Immigration status is another barrier to access to healthcare in the U.S. Although immigrants have a right to access the U.S., including the purchase of health insurance, they face various barriers, such as language and deportation fears limiting their healthcare-seeking behaviours (Adunlin et al., 2018). Nonetheless, the government can remove all these financial barriers by ensuring improved access to work and financial opportunities for people from low-income backgrounds and hoods, especially minority ethnic groups. To eliminate the immigration status barriers to access to healthcare, translators can be incorporated within healthcare settings to overcome the language barriers and stigmatization from local healthcare providers.
Summary of Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted to increase health insurance coverage for Americans. The ACA has various provisions that have been fundamental in extending health insurance coverage to many Americans who previously lacked health insurance. Two major provisions of the ACA that impacted patient care are the elimination of the restrictions on annual coverage limits and the exclusion of insurance coverage due to pre-existing health conditions in children. The elimination of restrictions on annual coverage limits allowed people with major health needs to have unlimited access to health services. On the other hand, eliminating the exclusion due to pre-existing conditions expanded coverage to include diseases such as diabetes and improved healthcare access for children with pre-existing health conditions.
References
Adunlin, G., Cyrus, J. W., Asare, M., & Sabik, L. M. (2018). Barriers and Facilitators to Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Among Immigrants in the United States. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 2018 21:3, 21(3), 606–658. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10903-018-0794-6
Bodhisane, S., & Pongpanich, S. (2019). The impact of National Health Insurance upon accessibility of health services and financial protection from catastrophic health expenditure: A case study of Savannakhet province, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Health Research Policy and Systems, 17(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12961-019-0493-3/TABLES/5
Keisler-Starkey, K., & Bunch, L. (2021). Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2020. In Report Number P60-274. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-274.html
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Question 
Health Insurance
Overview
Explore policies and regulations related to health insurance and examine different factors that impact patient access. In this assignment, you will explore health insurance, how it works, and the challenges in accessing healthcare to communicate coverage benefits to patients and families.
Instructions
Write a 2–3 page paper in which you:
1. Analyze the benefits of health insurance on access to care, including two examples of insurance benefits.
2. Evaluate barriers to accessing healthcare, including two examples of barriers and recommendations for their removal.
3. Summarize the Affordable Care Act, including two provisions that affect patient care.
4. Besides the textbook, provide two sources to support your writing. Choose sources that are credible, relevant, and valid. Cite each source listed on your source page at least once within your assignment. Access the library or review library guides for help with research, writing, and citation.
This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
Analyze initiatives and challenges associated with accessing health care.