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Running Head: LEADERSHIP AND ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

Leadership and ethical Decision Making

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LEADERSHIP AND ETHICAL DECISION MAKING
On 23rd March 2010, President Obama signed a healthcare reform bill named “Patient

Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)” with an aim to provide affordable healthcare

to all the citizens of the United States. Under this reform, all the health providers (physicians

and hospitals) will improve their practices technologically, financially, and clinically to

ensure quality and low-cost healthcare and increase the accessibility and widespread

distribution of their services. Furthermore, the Affordable Care Act was aimed to control the

rate of uninsured individuals in the country by reducing healthcare costs and increasing

health insurance affordability, quality, and insurance coverage. For the implementation of this

reform, the government introduced different mandates, insurance exchanges, and subsidies

(Williams, 2015).

The explanation of the PPACA looks like that the people of the United States would

have to simply get the benefits of the healthcare reforms that are offered to them. However,

the problem is that in order to get access to the affordable and quality healthcare services, a

patient would be first required to get a healthcare insurance plan. The increased complexity

of choosing appropriate health insurance plan has made the PPACA controversial and raised

a number of issues for individuals as well as for organizations to understand it (Sorrell,

2012).

The NBER has estimated that the number of insured people will increase by 10-12

million per year while the number of uninsured will be recorded at all time low, i.e. 8.6% in

2016("ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers, 2016). On the one hand, it is helping the

government in achieving a good and affordable healthcare system in the US. However, at the

same time, it is creating a number of other issues including the biggest challenge in the form

of increase in healthcare spending that will for sure exceed the income growth in the coming

years. In the future, the government would have to arrange three different healthcare budgets:
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LEADERSHIP AND ETHICAL DECISION MAKING
Medic care budget, Medicaid budget, and budget for federal tax subsidies and health

insurance exchanges (Williams, 2015).

The PPACA has a number of loopholes that instead of making positive impacts, it is

actually making things worse because it has missed some points that every American wants

to have in healthcare reforms such as availability in different languages, affordability, and

freedom of choice, quality, and flexibility to share with fellow citizens and family members

(Sorrell, 2012). There is a strong need for effective leadership in the Ministry of Health for

the United States to create an effective plan for the healthcare spending. This will help to

track the PPACA and reduce the chances of potential future challenges as well as to eliminate

the impact of issues that has been penetrated. The best way to make effective decisions for

the future success of the PPACA, the leaders need to follow Utilitarian approach. Utilitarian

approach states that an action will be right if it creates the greatest benefit to the majority of

the society. In this regard, the healthcare leaders/the leaders in Ministry of Health in the US

should consider this approach while making future ethical decisions to address the issues of

PPACA. Considering the current and future issues of the PPACA, it would be a good option

for the healthcare leaders to create a universal healthcare system by simply combining the

benefits of Medicaid, Medic care and PPACA in one reform. This will allow the US

government to create only one budget for spending on the healthcare. The development of a

universal healthcare plan will also reduce the burden of healthcare costs from people as well

as from the government that will promote happiness and benefit on the greatest level.

The PPACA’s policies are going against the approach of Utilitarianism because

instead of creating good for the society, these are making things worse by increasing pressure

on people and government. Many states have already rejected these reforms, and if it is not

replaced with another more beneficial and universally accepted healthcare reform, it could

damage the entire healthcare system and economic condition of the US (Sade, 2012).
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References

ObamaCare Enrollment Numbers. (2016). Obamacare Facts. Retrieved 13 November 2016,

from http://obamacarefacts.com/sign-ups/obamacare-enrollment-numbers/

Sade, R. (2012). INTRODUCTION: The Health Care Reform Law (PPACA): Controversies

in Ethics and Policy. The Journal Of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 40(3), 523-525.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720x.2012.00684.x

Sorrell, J. (2012). Ethics: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Ethical

Perspectives in 21st Century Health Care. The Online Journal Of Issues In

Nursing, 18(1). Retrieved from

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/

OJIN/Columns/Ethics/Patient-Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act-Ethical-

Perspectives.html

Williams, J. (2015). A Systems Thinking Approach to Analysis of the Patient Protection and

Affordable Care Act. Journal Of Public Health Management And Practice, 21(1), 6-11.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/phh.0000000000000150