Understanding Health Care Reform
A Message from Georgia Fojtasek, Allegiance Health President and CEO
July 12, 2012
With the passage of the health care Reform bill in 2010, and the recent Supreme Court ruling upholding most of the Reform law, our nation is undergoing one of the most dramatic changes in health care in the last 50 years. Over time, this legislation has the capacity to provide incentives for total transformation of our current “sick-care model.” It will also provide access to primary and preventive care for millions who have not had this privilege in the past.
We are encouraged by the fact that this legislation moves our nation closer to a model of care that focuses on wellness, prevention and personal accountability for one’s health. It has the potential to reward those who have integrated these concepts into their lives, and for the health care industry, into their organizations. For over a decade, through our Health Improvement Organization (HIO) vision, Allegiance Health has joined with other community organizations (particularly the County of Jackson and the United Way) to champion this wellness and prevention model and need for change in our own community.
Through our nation’s non-profit, community-based health systems, a safety net has been provided for those without health insurance. Allegiance Health has made health care available to the people in our region, regardless of their ability to pay, for over 90 years. The national debate about health care Reform will continue, however. As anyone who has experienced the health care system knows, all health care is local and intensely personal when it is us or our loved ones. All of us at Allegiance Health know that we have a significant responsibility to determine how health care will be provided to the people in our community. Our mission and vision will continue to guide us to proactively make decisions based on the right thing to do for those we serve, as we lead our community to better health and well-being at every stage of life.
Recommended Resources for Understanding Reform
Allegiance Health invites you to explore these resources to assist you in understanding health care Reform, including the Supreme Court’s June 2012 ruling to uphold the Affordable Care Act.
As we identify more resources and information we think may be useful to you, we’ll add them to this list.
Health Reform Hits Main Street is a brief animated movie produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation, which explains the problems of our health care system prior to Reform, the changes that are currently underway, and provides highlights of the big changes you can anticipate for 2014.
What’s Changing and When: Produced by HealthCare.gov, a government web site managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, this information provides a useful timeline for when health insurance will roll out so that you can anticipate what’s changing and when.
A Guide to the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act Decision: This article describes the Supreme Court's decision on the ACA and looks ahead to the implementation of health care Reform now that questions about the constitutionality of the law are behind us.
Health Reform Quiz: Take a short, 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of the law, and then find out how you compare to the rest of the country, as represented by the findings of the Kaiser Family Foundation's monthly Health Tracking Poll.
A Note about the Kaiser Family Foundation: This non-profit, private operating foundation focuses on the major health care issues facing the U.S., and is valued as a non-partisan source of facts, information and analysis.