The Affordable Care Act: The Seismic Shift in Healthcare and Its Aftershocks
1. The development of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
a. Need for and timing of healthcare reform
b. On what did the Republicans and Democrats agree and disagree?
c. How did the original legislation evolve into the final product?
i. What were the stated goals of the legislation?
ii. How were these goals to be accomplished?
iii. What was the cost of the legislation? How was it to be paid for?
d. What kind of special deals were brokered to ensure its passage? Why did no
Republicans vote for it?
2. The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
a. General timeline
b. How did the Supreme Court’s decision affect its implementation?
c. What deadlines have been delayed?
d. What do these exchange enrollment numbers actually mean?
e. Insurance policy compliance and Obama’s decision to delay enforcement
f. Mandates
3. What provisions are good for hospitals? What provisions may cause potential harm to
hospitals? (interactive)
a. How will the ACA impact physician recruitment and relations?
b. How will the ACA impact a hospital’s human resources policies?
4. Outside of hospitals, who are the major winners as the result of PPACA? Who are the major
losers? Are there some groups in which the outcomes are still to be determined? (interactive)
5. How have states differed in their approaches in:
a. Medicaid expansion
b. Insurance exchanges. What states have successfully enrolled a large proportion of their
population? What states have not? Are there correlations to size of state,
unemployment rate, or a state’s decision whether to expand Medicaid or not?
c. How does Georgia measure up to the rest of the states?
6. What is the realistic future of PPACA? (interactive)
a. 2014 elections
b. Repeal vs. Replace
c. Republican alternatives
7. How do we talk to the public about this legislation?