http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22506951

Acad Emerg Med. 2012 Apr;19(4):461-468. doi: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2012.01313.x.

The Ethics of Health Care Reform: Impact on Emergency Medicine.

Marco CA, Moskop JC, Schears RM, Stankus JL, Bookman KJ, Padela AI, Baine J, Bryant E.

Source

From the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Toledo (CAM), Toledo, OH; the Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine (JCM), Winston-Salem, NC; the Department of Emergency Medicine, Mayo Clinic (RMS), Rochester, MN; the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of New Mexico (JLS), Albuquerque, NM; the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine (KJB), Denver, CO; the Departments of Internal & Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan (AIP), Ann Arbor, MI; the Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine (JB), Stanford, CA; and Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital, Colorado Permanente Medical Group (EB), Denver, CO.

Abstract

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2012; 19: 461-468 © 2012 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine ABSTRACT: The recent enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010, and the ongoing debate over reform of the U.S. health care system, raise numerous important ethical issues. This article reviews basic provisions of the ACA; examines underlying moral and policy issues in the U.S. health care reform debate; and addresses health carereform's likely effects on access to care, emergency department (ED) crowding, and end-of-life care. The article concludes with several suggested actions that emergency physicians (EPs) should take to contribute to the success of health carereform in America.