Even despite the skepticism, Accountable Care Organizations are quickly expanding. For example, insurance company Cigna already has minimum 17 Accountable Care Organization-type arrangements that consist of about 100,000 individuals.
While Accountable Care Organizations are expanding their share of the healthcare arena, most surveyed patients in recent athenahealth analysis (almost 75 percent), said they have either only “heard of” or are “somewhat familiar with” the law and the new healthcare model.
“There is no doubt that in implementing the Affordable Care Act, a program with this significance, there are going to be some glitches,” Obama said. “There are going to be things where we say, ‘You know what? We should have thought of that earlier’ or ‘this would work a little bit better’ or ‘this needs an adjustment.”
Affordable Care Act is insisting for enactment of Electronic Health Records. According to the analysis, 55 percent of independent physicians believe the expenses of an Electronic Health Record dominate its quality of care benefits and 60 percent of the same physician group said the costs of an Electronic Health Record surpass its financial benefits.
Just weeks ahead of the rollouts of major portions of the Affordable Care Act, lobbyists and advocacy groups are trying to influence parts of President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law before they go into effect. Groups are pushing for change now because they expect it will be harder to do it later. While the chances of getting results may be low, the lobbying could increase leverage for forthcoming negotiations.
“Last year, millions of Americans opened letters from their insurance companies, but instead of the usual dread that comes with getting a bill, they were pleasantly surprised with a check,” Obama said. For example folks buying health insurance in New York State can anticipate seeing their premiums reduced by around 50 percent for 2014, according to an announcement by the state’s insurance regulators.
While some states have vigorously embraced the imminent rollout of the Affordable Care Act, other, mostly Republican-dominated, states have taken steps to reduce their citizens’ exposure to the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.
Plans will be presented at the exchanges in numerous tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each tier will be priced differently and offer a different level of benefits.
Learn about the future healthcare system and go to What is happening to United States healthcare system?
