Introduction
A health insurance exchange is a subsidized health insurance plan provided by the federal government. The concept was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to increase health insurance access. The Accountable Care Act (ACA) was established to create a market where exchange in health insurance can be used to get insurance coverage. This coverage is expected to be comprehensive and supposed to take care of all applicable reforms in the private market as specified in the ACA (Stoltzfus 1). Enrollment to the exchange is expected to be voluntary, and no one will be forced to take up the coverage. If the plan will function as expected, the economic value expected from these exchanges will be an expansion of medical insurance coverage. The quality of the health insurance coverage and health care will be improved, and there will be a reduction in medical costs Getzen and Bruce 158).
Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation
The center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation was established in the Social Security Act Section 115A. Its mission was to test innovative payment and models of service delivery to reduce the expenditures of the program while improving the care quality for individuals who are eligible beneficiaries of Medicaid, Medicare, or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The focus of the center is to test new payments and service delivery models. The findings can be used when the payment of healthcare services and policy changes is experienced. In addition, new models can be tested and developed. Another goal of the center is to evaluate results and advance best practices. This is meant to deliver exceptional quality and low-cost care to the beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP. The innovation center also focuses to engage stakeholders to assist in the development of new models for testing (Getzen and Bruce 180-183) Que.3: Public goods
A public good is a product or service in which each unit can be consumed by everyone with no one being excluded. Public goods are known to be “non-rivalrous and non-excludable”. Medicare and Medicaid programs were originally meant to offer medical insurance to needy people. No one needy is excluded from the Medicaid program. However, the program does not cover the working poor. This means that universal health insurance cannot entirely be described as a public good since it is non-excludable but to some extent rivalrous. Crowding out occurs as a result of increased use of public goods leading to a decline in private investment. When the federal government extended Medicaid eligibility to children and pregnant women, there was a decline in the number of persons with coverage in the employment-based insurance (Getzen and Bruce 211).
Nursing Shortage
Subsidies should not be introduced to lower the cost of nursing education. Despite the increasing demand and lower supply of nurses, studies show that the cause of a nursing shortage is mostly a result of the growing population with fewer enrollments as a result of other professions that are more luxurious. The shortage is high as a result of fewer people joining the profession, although there is also a high attrition rate as a result of the increase in the aging population and expansion of opportunities within the health care profession (Getzen and Bruce 192).
Works Cited
Getzen, Thomas E, and Bruce Allen. Health Care Economics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007. Print.
Stoltzfus, Timothy, 2010, Health Insurance Exchanges and the Affordable Care Act: Key Policy Issues. PDF file. Web.