PPACA/A. K.: Health Care Policy Analysis

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) agrees that the cost of health insurance is a high ranking concern for business owners. Every year, they conduct a study to see what the top general concerns facing small business owners. From the beginning of the fiscal year of 1986 to the present, every year has concluded that the cost of health insurance is the top burden facing small business owners in America. (Wade, Holly Pg 24, table 5). Another important factor to consider are lost capacity due to employee illnesses or unemployment. Brad Plumer of the Washington post recently did an interesting study to determine the amount of money lost due to inactivity at the workplace. Including businesses in both the public and private sectors, Plumer estimates that over $1.8 trillion dollars per year in lost productivity at the workplace. While the Post acknowledged the idea of lost productivity is not a clear science and can be overvalued this is nonetheless a huge amount of money wasted each year.

Employers who were required to offer health insurance to part time workers may no longer be required to do so. Because it is expensive for companies to offer health insurance, they may choose to no longer provide this service to their part time employees. Additionally, coverage for full time employees may be reduced to become more expensive due to these changes. This may make it difficult for people who have health insurance through their current employer to find new work, as health insurance may be difficult to find.

were already providing health insurance because we’re in a competitive market and that helps us to retain and recruit good employees,” the Sacramento-based small business owner said, . One benefit for small businesses are tax credits“For us it was just good business. But pretty quickly we saw that our firm could benefit from the law. What appealed to us about the ACA were the tax credits and other financial incentives” (Taylor, 3), “A tax credit is an amount of money a taxpayer is able to subtract from taxes owed to the government” (investopedia.com , 1). this is good because businesses that barely make any money don't have to pay much taxes and they can maybe get more popularity due to the money they are saving. This is one example of how the ACA helps Small Businesses since …“ObamaCare creates the Small Business Health Options Program or SHOP, a part of each State’s Health Insurance Marketplace, where small businesses with 50 full-time equivalent employees or fewer can shop for group health plans. Starting on November 15th, 2015 those with 100 full-timers or less can use the SHOP” (www.obamacarefacts.com ,2 ). Small businesses are not required to provide health insurance to their employees if they wish because “... the answer is no. Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees are not required to provide health insurance to their employees, and those employers will not face tax penalties if they decide not to offer their employees health insurance” (resources.ehealthinsurance.com, 1).This is good that very small businesses have the freedom not to get insurance because some businesses need to save money because of the expensive previous health care. Despite it being affordable, ObamaCare has given the freedom for small businesses to not give healthcare to employees. “Since health insurance for small business isn’t mandatory under the ACA, small

Employers should offer affordable( employee premium less than 9.5% of employee’s wages) and of minimum value( employers must pay at least 60% of insurance cost) healthcare benefits to their employees depending on factors like number of FTE, number of employees receiving premium tax credits and other complex measurements to calculate the amounts. Employers should also notify employees by written about State exchanges, and advise them that if an employee decides to purchase a health Plan through an exchange, they may lose the employers’

The rapidly rising cost of health care in the United States has made access to medical care difficult for many citizens. Additionally, the number of uninsured is increasing because of job loss and reduction of employee benefits. This trend is projected to continue. The negative effect of reduced access to health care may have alarming effects on the economic well-being of the nation. The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) marks the beginning of significant transformation in the United States’ health care systems. After multiple attempts to reform health care over the years, the nation’s leaders have succeeded in pushing through this landmark legislation that will ensure most Americans will have access to

Questions are constantly circulating around the new Affordable Care Act. Many do not know what it does and the government is trying to make it out to be a big savior to the medical field for doctors and patients alike. The Affordable Care Act has also been given the name Obamacare because of its ties to the President. He believes that increasing the amount of people on insurances of any kind that meets his “standards” will help health care become more available and more profitable. Unfortunately, these claims are not true as Obamacare is clearly going to negatively impact health care in all aspects. The problems start for patients who get on government healthcare programs, such as Medicaid, with the fact that the treatment plans are extremely

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

The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a federal statute that was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by the Obama Administration. PPACA is more commonly referred to as the “ACA” or “Obamacare”. “A primary goal of the ACA was to increase access to health care services, largely through major expansions of state Medicaid programs in 2014 and beyond” (Wilk, 2014). The quest for health care reform began in the early 1900s and has become increasingly more debated throughout the century. The American Medical Association (AMA) began the journey and has been joined throughout the many decades by the American Association for Labor Legislation (AALL), President Roosevelt, President Truman, President Johnson, President Nixon, President Clinton, and President Obama, to name a few. The ACA demonstrates the need for the balance of power between state and federal government, as well as, how America has been handling the balance of power. This law has been in the making since 1989, conceptually beginning as the Individual Health Insurance Mandate through the Heritage Foundation. The individual health insurance mandate had been introduced by Republicans twice in 1993, in hopes of providing “a bill to provide comprehensive reform of the health care system of the United States” (Sen Chafee, 1993). The bill has been revised multiple times since 1993, budding into what is commonly called Obamacare.

Provisions to Assist Smaller Businesses and Businesses that Offer Most but Not All Employees Coverage (Federal Register, 2014). The U.S. Treasury Department (2015) states that “around 96 percent of employers that own small businesses and have less than 50 employees are therefore, exempt from the employer responsibility provisions” (U.S. Treasury Department, 2015). In other words, employers are obligated to provide health insurance to full time employees and employers are trying to work around the system by maintaining the complete minimum and having very few employees. This immediately stuck me that opponents of the Act could reduce employment in the United States. More specifically, there is antidotal evidence of businesses cutting hours from employee schedules. By reducing hours, businesses are able to get by the 30-hour-per-week definition of a full-time employee (McVeigh,

With the establishment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more and more Americans are able to have access to the healthcare, but roadblocks have occurred in the road to get there. After the signing of the bill into law, about 26 states filed a lawsuit in the setting of a federal court. This was done to challenge the constitutionality of the individual mandate (individuals must possess a minimum level of health insurance or face financial penalties) and the Medicaid expansion (individuals earning less than 133% of the poverty-level baseline are eligible for Medicaid). The Medicare expansion is optional, however, as of current, all the states are participating in it.

On top of regulation, in order to help this system reach everyone, Obamacare is designed to offer insurance rates based on one’s salary. And in addition to salary based premium rates, Obamacare is offering subsidies, which is cost assistance that “lowers the amount you spend on your monthly premium (via advanced premium tax credits) or reduces your out-of-pocket costs for things like copays, coinsurance, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum (cost sharing reduction).” (http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-subsidies/) Also, small businesses of a minimum 50 employees are now required to offer insurance for their employees, bringing more people closer to the reach of insurance. Those who previously viewed health care coverage as a luxury can now be closer to obtaining affordable coverage. “The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 48% of Americans who buy individual insurance today would be eligible for subsidies. They would receive an average of $5,548, which would cover 66% of the price.” (http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/21/news/economy/obamacare-subsidies/) Aside from insurance regulations, Obamacare has initiated additional perks to enhance the health system for everyone’s benefit. One significant adjustment for children up to ages 19 with pre-existing conditions is that health

The major provision of Obamacare is that most U.S. citizens must enroll in a health insurance plan for the entire tax year or face a penalty. Employers with more than 50 employees must offer workers a health insurance plan, and low-cost insurance exchanges have been set up so that employers and people without coverage can compare plans and buy insurance that meets the following levels of coverage:

In spite of the fact that there is no prerequisite that private companies offer medical coverage, some littler organizations (with no less than 50 workers) should pay a punishment in the event that they don't offer moderate scope. Implementation of those punishments will start in 2015, a year later than initially planned.

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 aspect of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that I recommend to be reform and revise in the near future is quality. According to the Institute of Medicine (2001) the U.S. health care delivery system does not provide consistent, high quality medical care to all people. Health care have to provide high quality care for all people regardless to their race and ethnicity. Health care have to have equity and fairness even in the form of quality. Quality is an important element that should be taking into account when dealing with health consumer, because all people health mean people life. The consumer right is to have high quality health care, because the consumer is paying a portion for the received health services. Therefore,