1. How are the price changes affected by the ACA and how does this relate to our discussions about ambulatory care?
The price changes are affected by the ACA, making health insurance accessible to those that were previously uncovered. It is shown that with the ACA, there were about 20 million more people that were able to have a health care plan. The ACA worked to reduce the use of unnecessary services to treat patients. They reduced this care through bundled payment reforms, accountable care organizations, also known as AcOs, and more. These different methods reduce care while using a "shared savings" approach to continuously meeting the quality of normal care. Recent studies show that the costs reduced with these methods are modest. This relates to our discussions about ambulatory care because some of the types of ambulatory care including wellness and treatment, may not be completely necessary for the treatment of a patient. This can increase the amount that a patient is billed by the hospital for their care and it is important to know that the ACA can help reduce the amount that is being put on the patients' bills. On the other hand, outpatient ambulatory surgical procedures are often
Iow-income populations have had limited access to ambulatory care, and therefore have had to receive hospital care, which is more expensive and sometimes more unnecessary for the patients' wellbeing.
References:
Skinner, Carrie Colla Jonathan. "The Affordable Care Act Made Health Care (Slightly) More Affordable: Health Affairs Blog." Health Affairs, 13 Mar. 2020, www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200313.368916/full/.
Anna L. Goldman, MD. "Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion and Access to Outpatient Surgical Care." JAMA Surgery, JAMA Network, 1 Nov. 2020, jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/2769583.
4. Why are drug companies able to freely price their drugs?
Drug companies are able to freely price their drugs due to the fact that in the United States, prices for prescribed drugs are usually unregulated, which gives the drug companies more ability and power to "raise drug prices beyond inflation rates" (Hawley 2020). This causes repetitive price increases even when the drug is not in high demand. Afterall, drug companies are operating a business where the goal is generating large amounts of revenue. Because prices are unregulated, this also gives the drug companies the ability to determine how to price the drug based on its effectiveness, uniqueness, and competition with other similar drugs. For example, if there are many similar drugs already in the market that are used to treat the same conditions, a new drug for the same conditions will probably be cheaper. Competition with other drugs such as success and popularity are also important for drug companies in determining prices because if new drugs have additional benefits, then the companies will most likely
increase the price. Similarly, drug companies will take into consideration whether or not a drug can help prevent the need for consumers to have to visit the doctor or go in for medical treatments. However, because of unregulated drug prices, many drug companies follow the trend