With the National Presidential election looming, one issue appears to be shaping the outcome more than any other: President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.
One of the primary reasons for this is that recently the United States Supreme Court heard arguments about this bill and concluded that, as law, it is ok. The Supreme Court did strike portions of the Act, but opponents have not given up the fight. This issue is rapidly becoming a dividing force between Democrats and Republicans.
For instance, this bill is believed by many in the Medical community to be harmful and for this reason, many medical workers, regardless of party affiliation, are aligning themselves behind the GOP. President Obama is acting as if these people do not matter, but considering the millions of health care workers in America, these could be enough to sway the vote.
For those interested in medical billing and coding, this issue is certainly one issue to watch. Why?
Here are some of the reasons:
- Many features of the Affordable Health Care Act increase government red tape.
- It creates sweeping and necessary changes to the information gathered and transmitted when billing for medical services.
- Most private physicians in America still handle billing themselves and this Act creates a nightmare for them.
- Many physicians will turn to professional billing companies like never before.
Thus, for some portions of the health care communities, this Act is frightening whereas for others, it could be a boon to business. Regardless, this Act is already causing difficulties.
Some of these stem from the misinformation found on the Internet and TV News. Few have read the Act because the legal jargon is intimidating and fewer still have the time.
Thus, with so much misinformation in the news and elsewhere, we thought it would be a good idea to begin a series of articles to help our readers understand better just how the Affordable Health Care Act impacts their business.
Whether you are a medical physician, a support technician, a professional medical billing person, or are interested in any of these fields we expect this series will be beneficial to you.
Here is what you can expect:
- Part One discusses the recent Supreme Court Ruling and how this ruling impacts everyone in the Health care field, but especially how this affects those involved in Medical Billing.
- Part Two will continue the series with a detailed analysis of this Act beginning with Title I. From here we examine each Title in turn, until the entire Act has been considered.
- We conclude with Part Three, which will consider the likely changes to this Act in the future. In addition, we will discuss the additional bill that passed in 2010 known as the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.
The goal is to provide medical professionals and medical billing clerks with accurate, reliable information about the Affordable Health Care Act which can be used to maintain quality health care and profitability.