The Department of Corrections Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Department of Corrections - Assignment Example This disparity could be attributed to the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2012 that ruled out US states from expanding Medicaid eligibility, which has led to a significant drop in the number of states adopting the Medicaid expansion. Moreover, even after the Federal Government gave consent to pay 100% Medicaid expansion costs for the initial three years and 90% thereafter, just 26 of the US’s 50 states have preferred to expand Medicaid (Rice et al, 2014). Such reluctance has left almost half of the eligible US residents with no Medicaid coverage. Another evident challenge is the increase in Medicare expenditure, 3 years after the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enactment. A few months after the inauguration of the 2010 ACA Act, expenditure indicated low levels perhaps due to Medicare payment cuts, reduced hospital readmission and growth of responsible care centers. However, there has been a rebound in the Medical Department expenditures due to the introduction of blockbuster drugs; thus, continually resulting in high spending. Similarly, it is increasingly becoming difficult to control costs as physicians and hospitals merge to augment their market in negotiations with major insurers (Rice et al, 2014). That notwithstanding, strong, and resolute opposition that has always come against major Medicare policies and plans in the US poses a lot of challenges. For instance, immediately after the ACA came into effect, opposition from Republican Party within the House of Representatives, voted persistently for the Act’s abolishment over 40 times. Consequently, out of 1507 national representative polled in 2014, only 37% were for the ACA whereas 53% were against it (Rice et al., 2014). Thus, this lack of political will has led to many residents being against Medicare proposals. Apparently the background of the challenges facing the Medicare department in the US is due to a series of poor plans and policies that