Please write a Paragraph answering to this discussion below with your opinion. Please include citations and references in alphabetical order in case of another source.

The primary purpose of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is to help more people receive better access to cost-effective, quality healthcare. The ACA reduces insurance premiums, offers prescription drug discounts, and prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to children under the age of 19 that may have pre-existing conditions (Cook, 2014). The ACA supports no charge evaluations to help keep Americans healthy. Services include: immunizations, assessment of blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as cancer screenings such as colonoscopies and mammograms; also included in the plan are prevention programs such as smoking cessation and obesity management (Cook, 2014). The goal is for all Americans to have access to reasonable-priced health insurance. To reduce costs, middle and low-income families receive tax credits, and the Medicaid program is expanded to cover more people in need (Cook, 2014).

With more people now having insurance coverage, the demand for quality providers has increased. The government has established multiple avenues for workforce development, such as scholarships and loan repayments; so that prospective providers are able to afford the necessary education required to serve the population (American Nurses Association, 2014).

For example, the purpose of Nursing Workforce Diversity Grants (NWD), is to develop an opportunity for people who are minorities or from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter the nursing workforce (American Nurses Association, 2014). Additionally, increasing the exposure to people of different backgrounds is one way also to foster cultural competence between the caregivers themselves, as well as toward their patients.

Nurses have a reputation as trusted sources of health information; this creates a valuable role when it comes to informing people of the benefits available to them, and how they can be accessed (Wakefield, 2013). For many Americans, it is their first time to have coverage; the ACA gives nurses a chance to improve our communities health by conveying the message of attainable, cost-effective care to the uninsured (Wakefield, 2013).

Reference

American Nurses Association. (2014). Health Care Transformation: the Affordable Care Act and More. Retrieved from https://www.nursingworld.org/~4afc9b/globalassets/…

Cook, C. (2014). Key Features of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Retrieved from https://aclawlib.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/key-feat…

Wakefield, M. (2013). Nurses and the Affordable Care Act: A call to lead. Retrieved from https://www.reflectionsonnursingleadership.org/fea…