Employee Health Benefits Are Undergoing A Radical Change Due The Passage Of The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act Essay

This paper discusses how the ACA has impacted the employer stakeholder group. Peer-reviewed journal articles will be examined to show how employers have been affected now and into the future, along with how employees are affected as well. Many mandates and changes have influenced and impacted employers in how they handle and deliver health care coverage, as well as impacting their business as well. Many changes affect large employers the most, but small to mid-size employers are also affected as well. This paper will also discuss commonly used strategies and their risks for employers to use in order to help lessen the impact of the ACA.

What’s next? Some experts say that if the consumer-directed approach doesn’t succeed, em wash their hands of health care altogether. A recent study by the Employee Benefit Researc showed that the proportion of U.S. residents covered by employment-based health benefits d percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2004. Decades from now, observers may conclude that a counter- revolution in employer coverage began in these early years of the 21st century. —Terence F. Shea

In 1954, Congress passed legislation allowing employers to provide health insurance benefits to employees on a tax-free basis (Sih and Singh 99). This legal provision marked the beginning of the rapidly expanding health care costs still apparent today due to the major incentives provided by the government to obtain employer-based health coverage. The overwhelming popularity of employer-based health insurance has led to a serious market inefficiency resulting from the system of third-party payment. As individuals rely on their insurance companies to pay for their medical expenses, this provides

Employers are continuing to face rising health benefit costs and are constantly looking for alternatives to control these escalating costs. Health benefit premiums continue to increase at a double digit pace for employers and employees (Poor, Ross & Tollen, 2004). This escalation is putting environmental pressures on all impacted stakeholders. Companies and insurance providers are squeezing this industry to get a handle on cost while still providing an appropriate level of care. This cycle puts the patient front and center as the ultimate stakeholder who incurs changes in health benefits. This mandate of cost control, efficient operations and market share has facilitated a constant analysis of the dynamic health

A series of events has recently occurred to cause the passage of PPACA. Economics are explicitly linked to health care. In the United States, health care coverage is provided primarily through an employer-based system. This system began in the depression era when pay was federally frozen. Companies, in an attempt to lure scarce workers, used benefits packages including health care as bait. Described as a “uniquely American” “private social security” health care system, the employer-sponsored system is the “cornerstone” of United States health care system (Blumenthal, 2006). This system has left many un- or under-insured. Blumenthal states (2006), “The United States’ dependence on employer-sponsored insurance means that the protection of its citizens against the costs of illness depends directly on the ability of private businesses to manage and absorb health care expenses that have defied all efforts to contain them.” Recently, economic downturn and the need to reduce expenses to better compete on the global market has caused many companies to both reduce their insurance benefits package and their work force causing many to lose their health care coverage. The employer-based system merged with the economic downturn, unaffordable health care costs for businesses, and

The Affordable Care Act was into law March 2010. The law has planned to make wide-range of changes to healthcare in the United States. The Affordable Care Act efforts to offer universal right to use to healthcare for Americans, control the rising costs of healthcare, adjust the private insurance industry complete things like state-based private exchanges and online marketplace that brings together state-approved insurance plans from multiple companies so consumers can shop for individual insurance plans, improve the quality of healthcare and make healthcare choices more consumer friendly and easier to understand (Medical Mutual,2017). Healthcare reform involves nearly all Americans from old or young,

“On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices” (The White House, n.d.a, para. 1). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA – Obama Care) is an effort to reduce the cost of health care in America through a series of provisions taking effect between 2010 and 2018 (Fossum, 2012). Some of the provisions threaten collectively bargained contracts currently in place between labor and management. Local 384, the union representing employees at the General Materials and Fabrication Corporation (GMFC), is

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also known as Obama Care has been put into place to transfer the cost of healthcare from employers to the government. Employer provided insurance is common place in America. Nearly 60% of the American public utilizes insurance provided by their employer (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). Since the proposal of the PPACA it has been surrounded by much controversy concerning the constitutionality of the bill.

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (Niles, 2016). The act was designed to provide insurance to a large number of Americans, also improve the quality of the United States healthcare system and to protect consumer’s rights. The act will hold accountable insurance companies for the quality of plans that they provide to consumers and make it better for consumers to understand their coverage plan. There were a lot of controversy and resistance about the act. This complex dilemma continuous to be this way to this day. For people who was happy about the law, there was a realization that they would soon be able to have health insurance and they could not be rejected for pre-existing

U.S. health care reform is currently one of the most heavily discussed topics in health discourse and politics. After former President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform in the mid-1990s, the Bush administration showed no serious efforts at achieving universal health coverage for the millions of uninsured Americans. With Barack Obama as the current U.S. President, health care reform is once again a top priority. President Obama has made a promise to “provide affordable, comprehensive, and portable health coverage for all Americans…” by the end of his first term (Barackobama.com). The heated debate between the two major political parties over health care reform revolves around how to pay for it and more importantly, whether it

Employer based health insurance has received much criticism and its existence is in jeopardy as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) changes the healthcare industry. Penalties enacted by the ACA may cause businesses to reevaluate their standing on providing insurance coverage. However, evidence shown by Klein (2013) and Radnofsy (2012) give way to thinking that large business may not change their policies on providing insurance coverage. Moore (2013) and Pear (2010) show how small to mid-sized businesses may be influenced to drop the benefit, as it may not be in their economic interest. However, this is the area that needs assistance because they are the ones suffering from the insurance gap. The Census Bureau (2013) and Garfield, Damico, Stephens & Rouhani (2014) provide reports of how lower-income families and employees of small businesses very often find themselves without access to healthcare. Discussed are the advantages and disadvantages of employer-based health insurance. Evaluating the current position of employer-base health insurance and the pros and cons to its implementation will help determine how necessary it is for the United States.

For the employer, the decision to offer or not offer health care is multifaceted; employee preferences, wages, taxes, and regulations. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) adds only confusion, new taxes, new subsidies, new requirements, and new markets, however, there is no change on the financial side of the company (Buchmueller, 2014).

Many employees must designate a health plan through their employer. These days, as HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and managed care plans continue to proliferate, that means a choice between bad and worse. As employees line up in the lunch-room for a process called open enrollment, they may be surprised to learn that managed care rates have gone up — again. The mirage that managed care is cheaper care is finally fading. And, for the first time in years, employees may also have the promise of free choice in medicine in the form of a new method of financing health care. Consumers are already aware of horror stories involving HMOs, but cheap rates persuaded many that managed care is less expensive. Recent

The most consistent and prominent concerns of consumer-driven health care plans amongst employees were that employees wish for healthcare services to be at an affordable price. The employees had issues with the high deductible plans and having enough money to cover any medical emergencies and expenses. Employees wanted to have the ability to choose their own healthcare provider and not get penalized for utilizing out-of-network providers. Both HealthPartners and Medica provided the options of no fees for selecting a out-of-network provider, however the employee was require to have higher monthly fees. See Exhibit 3 below: (Herzlinger, Hurwich, & Bokser, 2014, pg. 12). The employee had to choose between paying higher yearly deductibles and lower

There are great health care benefit programs for employees in most organizations. However, the age limitations are causing serious concerns when it comes to mental care for dependent adults over the age of 26. This needs to change, as mentally ill patients over the age of 26 are left without healthcare insurance; which is never a good thing. Mentally challenged individuals deserve to be protected and covered as dependents under their caregiver’s insurance plans as long as they live. The term dependent should not be restricted to an age, but rather be a term that defines the individual who is unable to provide for themselves due to some mental disorder. Therefore, if organizations change their policies and include the mentally ill as a dependent regardless of age, then, it is likely for economies to see declining crime rates, less cost to taxpayers for essential services, and better overall rehab facilities.