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The Status of the Affordable Healthcare Act in 2017

The Affordable Healthcare Act’s Open Enrollment period is finally here, giving millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans the opportunity to get health coverage for lower rates. Although this current Open Enrollment period ends in January 2017, many C-level healthcare executives are wondering how President-Elect Trump will change the Affordable Care Act once he’s sworn into office.

In a recent online survey conducted by Healthcare IT News and Healthcare Financial, the majority of respondents indicated that they expected some sort of disruption of the Affordable Care Act, meaning health insurance companies will once again become highly influential in the kind of care a patient can expect to receive at a hospital or medical facility.

While President-Elect Trump has indicated that he’s open to keeping some aspects of the Affordable Care Act, the market largely believes that the Trump administration will repeal much of current legislation. Opinions were split as to whether this repeal would be good for the overall healthcare market:

“One former administrator said that eradicating the ACA would drive emergency room visits for primary care upward and, in turn, overall prices will rise, creating a burden that hits the middle class and wealthy Americans hardest.

“A participating COO countered that Trump would ‘replace mandates with market-driven strategies to reduce cost to consumers and increase profitability for healthcare organizations.’”

While the jury’s still out on what will happen to health coverage once Trump takes office, one thing is for certain – the healthcare market will be paying attention.

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