NRS 428 Topic 4 DQ 2<\/strong><\/h2>\nSince its adoption in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has extended access to comprehensive health coverage to millions of previously uninsured Americans through the expansion of Medicaid, the establishment of the Health Insurance Marketplace, and the creation of several consumer protections designed to mitigate discrimination from providers and healthcare systems and to limit insurers\u2019 ability to deny, limit, or cancel coverage.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nInitial results from the ACA lowered the number of the uninsured, now estimated at 30.4 million, or 9.4% by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), down 18.2 million people since the passage of the ACA in 2010.\u202fRecently, concerns have arisen about the sustainability of these results, including several actions, regulations, and proposals that have the potential to threaten both the availability and the adequacy of plans in the insurance marketplace. Millions of Americans remain uninsured or underinsured, with half of uninsured adults reporting the cost of coverage as the primary factor.\u202fMoreover, the progress made across the previous 5 decades in reducing cardiovascular death and disability has stalled, and increasingly, we are learning that striking differences in cardiovascular mortality remain across sex, gender identity, race, and ethnicity,\u202fdriven largely by geographic locations, income levels, level of education, and other social determinants of health.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nNurses view the healthcare industry from a privileged perspective. They not only help patients, but, given the amount of charting and paperwork they encounter, they also gain insight into the workings of the health insurance industry (Nurse Journal staff, 2021). Nurses offer a unique, expert, bedside perspective on the healthcare system and, as one of the largest healthcare professions, can be effective in healthcare political action,” Weatherspoon says. “Working at the point of care, nurses see the good things and the areas that need improvement.” Nursing professionals can use this knowledge to improve the healthcare industry by advocating and taking political action, Weatherspoon adds. One way to do this is by contacting representatives from your state legislature.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nReferences\u202f<\/span>