Four years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law there is still uncertainty regarding how it will affect small businesses. Because there were delays and exemptions granted by the, Obama administration and challenges that were still pending in courts. The effects on small businesses vary from state to state depending on the company size and the composition of the company's workforces. But the large corporations pay their employees medical bills and hiring insurers to administer health benefits. Most small businesses purchase group health insurance from insurers and face cost increasing regulations as they go through the annual ritual of renewing their coverage. While media has focus their attention on the state and federal health exchanges, employers are responsible for the growth in the …show more content…
Under the new bill small employers with 49 or less employees could use pre-tax dollars to give workers a defined contribution, allow employees to use those pre-tax funds in an HRA to purchase healthcare coverage on the individual market and for qualified out-of-pocket medical expenses and also avoid financial penalties for providing these types of funds to employees. But is this Health Relief Act beneficial to small businesses or is it taking more money out of the pockets of people who cannot afford healthcare. In my paper I will find the answers to some of the questions that people need answered. The Affordable Care Act which is officially called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and some people like to call it Obama Care is a US law that reforms both the healthcare and health insurance industries in America. There are some specific things that Obama Care does to reform American healthcare system: • Prohibit insurance companies from dropping people
The fertility rate is an important factor when evaluating the health of the public. Despite the United States having one of the best healthcare systems in the world, approximately 13% of women between the age of 18 & 44 have trouble conceiving. Although the US has implemented the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a landmark policy, assisting millions of Americans in obtaining health insurance, unless altered, the policy could hurt the 3 out of 20 women who struggle with infertility. After evaluating the core essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act, the views of stakeholders, and the state mandates, an easy solution can be established to assist those suffering from impaired fecundity.
"the ACA will be bad for businesses and job creation because it will force employers to offer a minimum standard of health care to employees." (Brenner 1 of 8). A real life example of this is observed when "the Cleveland clinic announced last week it would be cutting jobs and slashing 5 to 6% of its $6 billion dollar budget, all to prepare for Obama care[The affordable care act]" (Brenner 2 of 8). Another gripe about the ACA is that the ACA will not benefit hospitals and long-term care homes and organizations. "The ACA also includes provisions for reducing payments to hospitals with high levels of readmissions" (Zuckerman 6 of 12). As all of this is happening the ACA has rearranged care and now people have different doctors because their old doctor no longer accepts their insurance or won't supply the medicine they need. "As fewer people seek care due to rising out of pocket costs, and patients have their treatment delayed as they search for a new doctor because their current physician isn't in their plan. This atrocious law could bankrupt this nation and kill Americans" (Brenner 3 of 8). Plus the icing on the cake of this whole fiasco is, "All this great stuff has been obscured by the bungled launch of the government's healthcare.gov website" (Harrop 2 of 7). The ACA aims to hurt the small business sector and hurt families as they
With the Advent of the Affordable Care Act, came many changes throughout the medical industry, changes happened in hospitals, health insurance, and doctors. Doctors, more than any other group seem to be affected in a number of way, from the amount of patients, from the increased number of people with insurance plans. It also changed the way a doctor interacts with other parts of medicine. There are some questions arising from this such as; would doctors approve or disapprove of these changes along with do these changes affect the doctors' ability to practice. For the most part, there is no difference the way doctors practice or to their income, but it does have doctors utilize their abilities towards medicine rather paper pushing which could have doctors prefer the post-ACA medical community rather than before.
Firms produce and sell goods and services. In this case, uninsured patients benefit because if they show a pre-existing condition, they can not be denied health care. Insurance companies will benefit because it is required to get health insurance, thus all the people who do not have it will either have to get health insurance or pay a tax. It affects small businesses because they are cutting down on employing since they do not want to spend money on healthcare, which also affects the unemployed. The government kept investing money into health care because it was not being successful, but taxpayers had to pay for this which affected the cash flow negatively because households were least likely to buy from firms. At times, cheap healthcare plans can limit where people can get medical help. Amanda Cox said, “Many of the cheapest marketplace plans provide access to a limited groups of doctors and hospitals.” This is a reason why people would rather stick with their current health care plans because it could be close by your home, which is convenient and saves travel
As the past six years can attest, the way the government implements change is not grounded in making micro changes and fine-tuning them until a certain measure of success is gained and then applying that change at a macro level. The Affordable Care Act was forced on all Americans and was poorly implemented for the overall benefit of all Americans. While many were able to purchase health insurance for the first time, the quality of that health insurance was not high in all parts of the country. This student and her husband were forced to buy insurance on the Kentucky exchange that was extraordinarily poor quality. Premiums were lost, customer service agents spoke very poor English, covered procedures were denied until this student filed
The Affordable Care Act includes a requirement that all citizens must have some level of health coverage. The primary method through which the mandate is attempting to create 100% coverage in health care is by instilling fear into the minds of hardworking citizens as those who ignore the rule will have to pay a hefty fine. This mandate, unconstitutional according to the law, will deteriorate the quality of health care, hamper economic growth and cause spikes in insurance premiums. The hope of universal health care may or may not arise under the mandate but new dilemmas and hardships on U.S. citizens will undoubtedly surface.
The Affordable Care act was design so that all Americans would have some type of medical coverage, this meant the responsibility of each American to enroll and register themselves or their families, by using the new healthcare marketplace system. The federal government gave the authority to individual states to decide whether to implement the Medicaid expansion, most of the states chose to do so, but most of the business is claimed that it was too much of a financial burden to provide health insurance for all of their employees, most of the employers save money by raising rates employees with families, also this would affect the marketplace in different states, each marketplace has different rates. The implementation of the Affordable Care
At last, the law gave new alternatives and motivating forces to help states rebalance their Medicaid long haul mind programs for group based administrations and backings as opposed to institutional care. All in all, these arrangements have quickened Medicaid advancement effectively in progress in numerous states. Also improved with the ACA besides Medicaid, is Medicare. The Affordable Care Act incorporates a progression of Medicare changes that will create billions of dollars in reserve funds for Medicare and fortify the care Medicare recipients get. The new law secures ensured benefits for all Medicare recipients, and gives new advantages and administrations to seniors on Medicare that will help keep seniors solid. The law likewise incorporates arrangements that will enhance the nature of care, create and advance new models of care conveyance, suitably value administrations, modernize our wellbeing framework, and battle waste, extortion, and mishandle. A big topic that is affected from ACA is businesses. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- otherwise known as Obamacare -- is putting such a small dent in the profits of U.S. companies that many refer to its impact as 'not material' or 'not significant. Even after a provision went into effect this year requiring companies with 50 or more full-time workers to provide coverage, and after more workers are choosing to enroll in existing company coverage because of another requirement that all Americans get
Individuals checkbooks are not the only place that is going to take swift punch to the gut. Small businesses -- having 50 or less employees -- are also going to take a brutal hit. Several plans provided by small businesses will have to be terminated unless they are changed so they meet all the needs of the new requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The American Enterprise Institute “estimated that as many as 100 million working Americans will lose their employer-sponsored insurance coverage”. Small businesses already are paying more for their health insurance now they are going to lose it all together. Small businesses who
President Obama signed The Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010. The goal of the Affordable Care Act was to provide health care for all Americans and to help control the growth in health care spending. In addition to health insurance reforms, the Affordable Care Act includes tax provisions that affect individuals, families, businesses, insurers, tax-exempt organizations and government entities. These new tax provisions impact health insurance provided by employers.
Obamacare refers to an Affordable Care Act (Archambault, 2014) in the U.S healthcare reform law which expands and improves the access to care services and reduces spending via taxes and legislations. The main focus of Obamacare is to provide more Americans with affordable access to health insurance and improve on the health care quality and health insurance in the nation. It regulates the health insurance industry hence reducing healthcare spending in the United Sates. The law features various provisions of the healthcare crisis aspect in the country. The affordable Care Act does many important things such as offering U.S citizens with rights, new benefits, and protectionism in relation to their healthcare. It sets up a health insurance marketplace where Americans can buy federally subsidized and regulated health insurance. Obamacare expands on Medicaid to U.S adults in many of its states. It also improves Medicare for the senior population and those with long-term disabilities. Every year during the annual open enrollment period, U.S citizens can access health insurance coverage using the health insurance market place.
It was stated earlier in this paper that big businesses would benefit from this law; however, the exact opposite is true for small businesses. Businesses will be forced to provide healthcare for their employees or pay a fine, something they may not be able to afford. This may result in employees’ hours being cut or even the termination of the employee (“ObamaCare”).
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), officially called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and sometimes called Obamacare, is a US healthcare reform law that expands and improves access to care and curbs spending through regulations
The lower income Americans are able to afford health insurance with assistance from the government or employers. The lower cost of health insurance will increase costs for big businesses only slightly because the Act lowers premiums through insurance companies. Big businesses are required to offer insurance or be charged a fine from the government. The armed forces and war veterans will still receive all the health care benefits and coverage provided by the federal government. Medicare will not change for elderly or the physical impaired. Overall this should reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government. Affordable Care will protect families from bankruptcy or debt due to health care costs. This Act is invested in prevention and wellness, improving patient safety and the quality of health care, and also guarantee the choice of doctors and health care plans. (SOURCE #2)
The primary goal of the Affordable Care Act was to expand health care access to Americans and subsequently reduce the number of uninsured in the nation. From September 2013 to March 2015, there was a significant reduction in uninsured Americans from 17.6% to 10.1% (Anderson, Hempstead, Karpman, Kenney, Long, Shartzer, Wissoker, Zuckerman , 2015). This was achieved through the new laws affecting private insurance and the expansion of the government’s Medicaid program. The ACA started the process by extending tax credits to an estimated 4 million small businesses that would help them provide insurance for their workers in 2010 (Implementation, 2016). In 2013, a marketplace exchange was finally opened for the American people to compare and purchase