Obamacare

Nurses Activism

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How exactly does it affect nurses? I've heard there are shortages of nurses all across the country, particularly the West coast. And was wondering if those shortages are due to the recent news about Obamacare.

Nurses are having a hard time finding work after graduating- a scary thought for anyone looking into nursing. There's obviously more than one underlying cause, but can anyone please shed some light on the situation?

Thanks!

I saw it on the news. I looked it up on google and this was released about a month before I saw the tv story. This seems more reasonable.

Omaha.com : Med center layoffs may be harbinger

Go read all 900 pages! How bout capping pharmaceutical and medical costs? I think thats a better option

You read all 900 pages? I just re-read what you wrote realized you meant capping costs & not putting annual/lifetime limits on coverage. Sorry. I agree that it is a good solution. Obamacare will be putting cost-containment measures in place!

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Specializes in L&D, Nursery, and Post-Partum.
How bout capping pharmaceutical and medical costs? I think thats a better option

Tort reform needs to be brought into the equation as well. Our politicians don't seem to want to do anything to reign in the ambulance chasers or the excessive lawsuits.

I've recently moved out of the States, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that healthcare workers and facilities aren't personally sued. If you have a grievance, it goes before a committee which decides rather or not you were harmed. From there, you get set amounts for damages, and it isn't millions upon millions.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I saw it on the news. I looked it up on google and this was released about a month before I saw the tv story. This seems more reasonable.

Omaha.com : Med center layoffs may be harbinger

I believe things do need to change but I read the affordable care act in its entire form and I think people will be surprised how little the eldery will be covered, how one person (the head of health n human services) has the choice to cover people in the high risk pool or not cover them depending on if the federal budget has available funding. The government can offer their insurance plan at 150% the market price of insurance. Go read all 900 pages! How bout capping pharmaceutical and medical costs? I think thats a better option

Not sure what you mean by "how little the elderly will be covered"?

The ACA actually added widened the coverage of high risk pools, previously offered at the state level, and lowered the cost for most participants. The head of HHS doesn't have the ability to decide to just stop covering people. The government doesn't "offer" an insurance plan outside of medicare and medicaid, there is no government options.

I agree the ACA could have done more to cover costs, there are many cost control already in it, although there could have been much more had it been less compromising.

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I am ready for "Obamacare", let's give it a chance.

Exactly. At least do something... ;)

What we currently have is not working.

It works for those who want it to work and do their part.

I can't tell you the number of people we see with no insurance who delay care until it's to late and get either an early death or a massive debt.

Everybody gets health care, even if they do not have "healthcare".

Everyone deserves healthcare.

It's right there in the that horribly outdated and obsolete document - the Constitution... somewhere. ;)

It is so good, it had to be rammed through and signed before those of us who pay for it knew "what was in it" (Thanks, Nancy!). So, some politicians will have a legacy, but it may turn out to be less than a good legacy, and the relative few who work for a living will pay for this entitlement, for the rest of our lives, in the form of higher taxes, higher fees, and higher prices for everything.

The media has done it job quite well.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Everybody gets health care, even if they do not have "healthcare".

Not everyone gets the same health care even if they all eventually get it.

It's right there in the that horribly outdated and obsolete document - the Constitution... somewhere. ;)

"promote the general welfare". Do you think medicare is unconstitutional?

It is so good, it had to be rammed through and signed before those of us who pay for it knew "what was in it" (Thanks, Nancy!). So, some politicians will have a legacy, but it may turn out to be less than a good legacy, and the relative few who work for a living will pay for this entitlement, for the rest of our lives, in the form of higher taxes, higher fees, and higher prices for everything.

The media has done it job quite well.

The full text of the ACA was available for months prior to passage. ACA is not an entitlement, are you referring to Medicare? I'm willing to bet it doesn't do anything to your taxes. If you make more than $250,000 a year then you'll pay a 0.9% increase in taxes. ACA reduces your medical fees.

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As the other nurses have said there has been a nursing shortage for many years. And I like the idea of Obamacare providing more job opportunities for nurses, however, I disagree. Healthcare has become such a business and all about the money, when you have medications declined due to the cost, or when an HIV patient is moved into a private room to increase the revenue of the facility it gives me pause to think. As of right now medicare/Medicaid is only paying x amount of dollars for this, that and the other. With obamacare there will be more people covered, but at what cost? Will the government, decrease the amount of payments because there are more people they are responsible for or will things actually improve because there are more people covered and therefore we have more money coming into the healthcare community? So I also think, if the people who are actually getting "free care", i.e., Medicaid are forced to pay for some insurance out of their income tax refunds or whatever means the government decides on, will they not be more apt to abuse this system even more? "I have to pay so I'm going to get what is coming to me" This type of thinking will become a vicious cycle I believe. I've been nursing for 20 years and I am looking into other fields, because in my short time as a nurse we have gone from actually caring for our patients and putting them first, to making money is the #1 goal in healthcare. It's sad disgusting and so very frustrating.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.
I'm starting to feel like the nursing shortage only applies to New grads. Even tho I'm still in school I've seen numerous job openings but req atleast some sort of years experience. Just my thoughts. Also that lack of insurance n self treating plays a role too.

As more and more hospitals are seeking Magnet status, they are required to offer increasingly challenging orientation programs for new grads. These "fellowship" programs are both time-consuming and expensive to hospitals, and the applications process is often very competitive. My daughter waited a year after graduating to be accepted into a fellowship program, and this in a hosptial in which she had been working for 5 years as a unit secretary. This seems ridiculous when the hospital has over 80 RN jobs available on the books. This could be a real recipe for disaster for hospitals that are restricted in hiring new grads.

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