Health System Reform Resources

ANA's Health Care Policy Primers give a high-level overview of topics being widely discussed during the national debate on health care reform. These primers aim to act as a resource as this debate continues to evolve.

In recent years, ANA has continued to build on decades of commitment to ensuring that health care reform benefits all. Several attempts by the Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) came the need for ANA to use the expertise and experience of its members to engage policymakers to keep patients safe.

• American Nurses Association Plan Year 2018 Open Enrollment Advocacy and Outreach Campaign Final Report (pdf, March 2018)
• Brookings Analysis Confirms Fears of Graham-Cassidy’s Deep Negative Impacts and Implementation Challenges (September 2017)
• ANA Letter to C/SNAs in Response to CMS Medicare IPPS Final Rule on Nurse Staffing Measures (August 2017)
• ANA Infographic: Timeline of the Senate’s 4 Attempts to Reduce Access to Quality Care (July 2017)
• ANA Policy Analysis of Amended Senate Republican Bill: "Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA)" (July 2017)
• ANA Infographic: What's at Stake for Nurses and Patients without the Affordable Care Act (July 2017)
• ANA Issue Brief: The High Stakes of ACA Repeal and the 2017 Senate Health Care Plan - What You Need to Know (July 2017)
• ANA Health Care Talking Points: The Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) and Its Impact on the Health Care System (June 2017)
• ANA Policy Analysis of Draft Senate Republican Bill: "Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017" (BCRA) (June 2017)
• Health Affairs Report on Health Spending by State, 1991-2014 (June 2017)
• House Passes AHCA with Options for State Waivers (May 2017)
• The American Health Care Act Moves Forward With Deep Flaws (May 2017)
• The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on the U.S. Health Care System (April 2017)
• Policy Analysis of the American Health Care Act 2017 (March 2017)
• ANA Policy Priorities for ACA Replacement or Repair - Position Comments (March 2017)
• ANA Policy Priorities for ACA Replacement or Repair - Moving Forward (March 2017)
• ANA Opposition Letter to the American Healthcare Act (AHCA) (March 2017)
• Patient Freedom, S.191, 2017 – A Complex Approach to Replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (February 2017)
• Draft House Republican Bill to Replace Affordable Care Act Would Undo Major Gains for the Law (February 2017)
• ANA Advocacy Toolbox
• Principles for Health System Transformation
• ANA and Health Care Reform – A History Infographic
• Talking Points: ANA Principles on Health Care System Reform
• How Repealing Portions of the Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums (Congressional Budget Office, January 2017)
• Executive Order: Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal
• Executive Order 13765 - January 20, 2017
• Kaiser Family Foundation: Medicaid State Fact Sheets

• Message from ANA President Pam Cipriano: ACA Open Enrollment Begins Nov. 15
  ANA President Pam Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, offers a special message about November 15, 2014 – the beginning of the next open enrollment period for people to obtain health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace. Nationwide, nurses have been helping people sign up for coverage, and it’s important to keep up the momentum.
• Health Care Transformation: The Affordable Care Act and How it Affects Nurses
  This document describes many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and how they affect nurses and nursing practice. It includes explanations about how ANA has advocated for the implementation of the ACA and the opportunities the ACA offers for nurses in education and practice. (2014)
• ANA Analysis: Supreme Court Arguments on the ACA
  ANA's experts in law and policy have reviewed the official court transcripts and presented an analysis of the arguments and the impact of the nursing voice on the future of the health reform law.
• New Animation Explains Changes Coming for Americans Under Obamacare
  Video from the Kaiser Family Foundation
• Health System Reform: Nursing's Goal of Quality, Affordable Care for All
  The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — or PPACA — roughly follows the key areas that ANA has set forth as necessary for effective health reform; the latest iteration of this policy was ANA’s Health System Reform Agenda (2008).
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement website
  IHI
• Health Care Reform Legislation Timeline
  This timeline contains selected Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) implementation dates of interest to RNs as caregivers, RNs as patients, and RNs as employees.