The Affordable Care Act and Physician Assistants

How is the ACA going to affect me as a PA? How is the ACA going to affect my patients?

By: Paul Gonzales

These two questions were posed in an article written in the september issue of PA professional. I think they're both very important questions for pre-PA students, current students, and practicing PA's. If you don't know what the ACA is - the Affordable Care Act is what people are calling ObamaCare. The terms are interchangeable, incase you were wondering. Signed into law March 23, 2010, the ACA quickly implemented changes such as the following below. In addition, the grand impact of the ACA was to decrease the number of uninsured Americans by as many as 32 million people. Highlighted in red are a few impacts that relate heavily to PA practice. I encourage you to read through all of them.

• Cover children younger than 19 regardless of pre-existing conditions (2010)
• Young adults can now stay on their parents insurance until they are 26 (2010)
• Access to insurance for uninsured individuals with pre-existing conditions (2010) - some people who have be uninsured for 6+ months have trouble finding insurance because of existing conditions
• Scholarships and loan repayment plans (2010) - primary care practitioners have access to repayment or loan forgiveness programs to increase the primary care workforce
• Increased federal payments to providers in rural areas (2010)- this includes PA's who work in rural areas; examples are Medicare, Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program