Young adults and US healthcare reform:views and marketing strategy
Abstract
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was created to provide affordable health care to all
Americans. Though this legislation became law in 2010, there remains much interest, uncertainty and controversy
among Americans in regards to the bill’s provisions. Younger Americans are likely to face higher
insurance premiums once the PPACA is fully implemented in 2014, but they may also benefit from a provision
which allows young people to remain on their parents insurance to age 26. Yet, no research to date has
explored the perceptions of college students regarding their views of the PPACA. This exploratory study will
examine college students’ awareness of the PPACA and perceptions regarding the main provisions of the
PPACA, and investigate how college students search for healthcare information.
Introduction
In March 2010 the US Congress passed, and President
Obama signed into law, the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA). According to
Healthcare.gov, the PPACA ‘puts in place comprehensive
health insurance reforms’ with the goal of increasing
access to affordable health care for individuals, families,
seniors, and businesses by ‘[holding] insurance companies
more accountable, [lowering] health care costs,
[guaranteeing] more health care choices, and [enhancing]
the quality of health care for all Americans’.1
Starting in 2010 and continuing through 2014, the
PPACA will be implemented; attempting to give individuals
with or without insurance, small business
owners with a desire to provide health coverage to
employees, and Medicare recipients more control over
decisions regarding health coverage.1
While the PPACA is in only the initial phases of
implementation and its overall success remains to be
seen, there is already an effort, particularly by the
Republican Party (‘Grand Old Party’, or GOP) and
the tea-party movement, calling for a repeal of the
act, which some feel is unconstitutional.2,3 In contrast,
President Obama believes that ‘reform is not a luxury,
but a necessity’, and although several objections have
been raised concerning the legality of the PPACA,
even the bill’s opponents feel there is a need for
reforming the overall healthcare system in the USA
The disparity here arises in how the government
should go about making the necessary revisions, and
specifically which entity, the state or federal government,
has the authority to formulate the terms for
the healthcare system reorganization.5 Furthermore,
the PPACA has been challenged as a reform of the
insurance industry in America rather than a comprehensive
overhaul of current healthcare system
standards.6,7
Though there is much interest and controversy
among Americans in regards to the bill’s provisions,
no research to date has explored the perceptions of
college students regarding their views of the PPACA.
College students may be impacted by the PPACA in a
positive manner by being eligible to remain on their
parents’ health insurance to age 26; however, younger
Americans are likely to face higher insurance
premiums once the PPACA is fully implemented. This
exploratory study will examine college students’
awareness of the PPACA, perceptions regarding the
main provisions of the PPACA, and investigate how
college students search for healthcare information.
Overview of the affordable care act
Transition from the former system
Prior to the passing of the Affordable Care Act in
2010, the federal and state governments shared
responsibility for regulation of health insurance. The
majority of large firms, as well as self-insured firms,
were regulated by the federal government, namely
through three federal laws: (i) the Employment
Retirement and Security Act (ERISA); (ii) the
Health Insurance Portability and Adjustment Act
(HIPAA); and (iii) the Consolidated Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act.8 Individually, state governments,
unlike the federal government, had the ability
to mandate ‘guarantee-issue rules’ whereby they could
require ‘insurance firms to offer insurance [policies] to
individual applicants in the individual market’.8 Three
methods were used by state governments for regulating
insurance rates: (i) rate band, or using health status
information such as age or gender to set rates; (ii)
modified community rating, whereby no current
health status information may be used in determining
rates; or (iii) pure community rating, which provides
for one standard premium for all occupants of the
state.8 The Affordable Care Act, in effect, changed
the ways in which federal and state governments oversee
insurance regulations, specifically transferring the
majority of the decision-making and regulatory power
to the federal government.
Call for reform
According to the World Health Organization’s World
Health Statistics Report, the per capita health expenditures
in the USA have continued to increase annually.
Specifically, from 2000 to 2007, total healthcarerelated
expenditures increased from $4703 to over
$7300 per capita with government health expenditures
accounting for approximately 43% and 45%, respectively.9,10
Additionally, these expenses, as a percentage
of national GDP, increased from 13.4% to 15.7%, and
the trend is believed to continue upwards if effectual
measures are not endorsed to control such spending.9
Moreover, while the USA is regarded as having the
‘most expensive health care system in the world’,9
nearly double the average of other developed countries,
the value to Americans is believed to be disproportionate
to the costs.11 Yet the USA ranks poorly
(29th among industrialized countries) for infant mortality
rates10 and has low disability-adjusted life expectancy,
or the number of ‘healthy years’ expected on
average for adults in a given population.9
Furthermore, according to the Democratic Policy
Committee (DPC), in 2009, 14,000 Americans were
losing their health insurance policies daily and insurance
for families purchased through employers
increased by $5908 on average per policy from 2000
to 2008. The DPC projected that without immediate
legislative intervention family healthcare costs would
‘skyrocket’ by $11,611 per family bringing the total
annual costs to $24,291 per policy. It is estimated
that premiums for employer-sponsored insurance policies
have increased at a rate of approximately three
times faster than that of wages over the past 9 years.10
High unemployment rates are also perceived to
affect the costs of insurance as a one percent decline
in employment is expected to result in approximately
1.1 million uninsured Americans. Correspondingly,
this would also increase enrollment in the Medicaid
and Children’s Health Insurance programs by one
million.10
Finally, a ‘hidden health tax’ is believed to be
imposed on Americans who can afford health insurance
in order to cover the costs of uninsured individuals
in desperate need of medical care without the
financial means to pay for it. For these reasons and
more, members of the US government were called as
representatives of their constituents to reform healthcare
spending and the overall healthcare system.
Main provisions of the PPACA
The overarching goals of the PPACA, as explained by
Healthcare.gov are threefold:1
. to establish a modernized and competitive health
insurance market;
. to ensure accountability by insurance companies;
and
. to stabilize the US budget and economy.
The result of these goals in action is a 2400+ page
document that addresses 10 specific topics, as well as
the amendments, which were made throughout the
legislative process.1 This study will attempt to address
some of the more publicized and comprehensive components
of the PPACA. The 10 all-embracing topics
include: Title I. Quality, Affordable Health Care for All
Americans; Title II. The Role of Public Programs; Title
III. Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Health
Care; Title IV. Prevention of Chronic Disease and
Improving Public Health; Title V. Health Care
Workforce; Title VI. Transparency and Program
Lindsey et al. 313
Integrity; Title VII. Improving Access to Innovative
Medical Therapies; Title VIII. Community Living
Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS Act);
Title IX. Revenue Provisions; Title X. Reauthorization
of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. Each of
these ‘Titles’ encompasses one of the subcomponents
of the overall attempt to reform health care through
the PPACA.
From the aforementioned components come several
of the most well-known provisions because of their
broad reach and appeal. This study looks at five of
the most prevalent healthcare reforms. According to
the Medical Device Daily, ‘by 2019, the House bill is
projected to cover 96% of all Americans and the
Senate bill, about 94%’.6
First, the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan
will guarantee coverage for people who have been
denied health insurance by private insurance companies
because of a pre-existing condition. This allows
for primary, specialty, and hospital care, as well as prescription
drug benefits, without charging a higher premium
for previous conditions and without regard to
income status for eligibility.
Additionally, tax credits of up to 35% will be offered
to employers with fewer than 25 employees to provide
health insurance coverage. One of the main concerns
with this portion of the bill is that some people speculate
if a mandate were to be enforced requiring small
business owners to purchase insurance for employees,
it would lead to unemployment. One of the reasons is
that typically uninsured workers are paid within $3 of
the minimum wage and employers cannot afford to
absorb the additional costs for providing these employees
with insurance. Even if the PPACA provides tax
credits, for many small businesses the overall costs are
still too expensive for the company to bear.
Additionally, a large portion of the target market for
the government healthcare plan, such as min