The Affordable Care Act Contains Various Exemptions And Drawbacks

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

When president Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in March 2010, it came with a lot of new provisions that would vary when they would come into effect. The very first provision was the “Grandfather Clause” which allowed people to keep their insurance plan before the act went into effect. As long as the employer still offered that plan the employee could still maintain it because they were grandfathered into receiving that coverage. If someone bought an insurance plan after March 2010 they would not be considered under the Grandfather Clause. Thus, these individuals would be required to get a new plan by 2014 if their plan did not meet all the criteria, they would need to get a new plan that fills all the criteria. Another major provision of the Affordable Care Act is that patients have a guaranteed issue. This means that insurance companies are unable to deny anybody health insurance based on their health or prior health. This may create a problem because the risk pool of an insurance company may not have the best people. Eventually, this could lead to the majority of the risk pool for an insurance company to have people who are at a greater risk of needing health insurance. This will make the insurance company more vulnerable and the only way that they will be able to cover the losses is by raising the premiums on everyone even though there may be some individuals that are in perfect health. The next provision that was added under the Affordable Care Act is that the

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

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 ended up being passed without any Republican support. Many consequences stemmed from this lack of bipartisan support, including many repeal bills that came up in later years in front of the House and the Senate. These repeal bills were only barely pushed down by Democrats, or moderate Republicans, such as Senator Susan Collins of Maine or Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. During the initial vote on the predecessor to the ACA, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the House passed the AHCAA by a slim margin of 220 to 215, with 39 Democrats voting against the bill, and one Republican voting for the bill. However, when the Senate voted on their version of the AHCAA in December, all the Democrats in the Senate united

The Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), commonly called "Obamacare," is a federal statute that was signed into law in March of 2010 (PDF, n.d.; Van de Water, 2011). It basically requires the vast majority of people in the United States who do not have insurance coverage to acquire that coverage or face penalties. People who already have insurance through their employers or on their own will not be asked to change companies. Additionally, anyone who is on federally-funded insurance such as Medicaid or Medicare and still qualifies for those programs will not be removed from their insurance. They will still be covered and protected. In order to find out more about the Act and really understand its main points and principles, however, it is very important to be aware of how it became a law and any changes that have taken place to it from its inception all the way through where it is today. Only then can a person have a clear understanding of the Act and form an opinion as to the value it may (or may not) provide to the American public. There is still much speculation and a great deal of misunderstanding about the Act and what it involves.

Businesses are left with an even bigger challenge. The Affordable Care Act requires small businesses to provide health insurance regardless if they are able to come up with the money for it (Stevens & Harler, 2012). Businesses that exceed 50 full time employees will be forced to make available health insurance; if they do not, they will be subject to a $2,000 penalty for every employee working there (Stevens & Harler, 2012). The benefit is that the company’s first 30 workers will be deducted and will avoid the fee (Stevens & Harler, 2012).

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23rd, 2010 by President Barack Obama. This radical health care law was a much-needed step in comprehensive health insurance reform. Three important features of the Affordable Care Act are 1. Improving quality and lowering health care costs 2. New consumer protections and 3. Increased access to healthcare. (Key Features. 2014). Under the umbrella of these three key features additional benefits include free preventive care, drug discounts for senior citizens, increased protection against health care fraud, small business tax credits, increased access to health care through the health insurance marketplace, consumer assistance, and non-discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service (n.d.), The Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress and then signed into law by the President on March 23, 2010. It was then approved by the Supreme Court in June 28, 2012 and was implemented in 2014. The main purpose of purchasing “The Affordable Care Act” is to ensure all U.S. citizens have health insurance. The Affordable Care Act has great impact on individual patients, health care organizations, as well as health care professionals. The Affordable Care Act changes several factors in health care industry in United States, especially in the health Insurance plans: including coverage, cost, and care. I believe the changes can be both positive and negative, it all depends on how

The Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) is a controversial issue to many. There are many pros and cons to the law and for discussion board purposes I will choose one benefit for community health. The ACA was established in 2010 by President Barak Obama and the enactment of the law may prove to be the most important event that affects future of healthcare in the United States (Blumenthal, Abrams & Nuzum, 2015). The greatest benefit to me that affects communities is the expansion of healthcare coverage to many citizens. There is an estimated 16.4 million citizens that have gained coverage through this law (Blumenthal, Abrams & Nuzum, 2015). The greatest coverage gains are through vulnerable populations including the young and those with low socioeconomic status which encompasses many

The Affordable Care Act does not take a socialist approach because it is just a welfare act that tries to create affordable health care for every individual in the U.S. Furthermore; it practically forces citizens and legal residents to acquire health insurance from a private insurance market. In other words, the Affordable Care Act serves to give the absolute power to the insurance companies and does not give control to the

Large corporations typically self-insure paying their employees' medical bills and hiring insurers to administer health benefits, while small businesses purchase group health coverage from insurers and face cost-increasing regulations as they go through the annual ritual of renewing their coverage. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) says that an employer must provide full-time employees with comprehensive health insurance for businesses that have over a certain number of employees. While businesses under a certain number of employees won't get penalized for not offering coverage. This is important because if you are a small business employee with very little take home, this gives you the option to allot that money for coverage or not. The cash value

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”).

I disagree with the statement that the Affordable Care Act would reduce the cost of health care over time. I think the health care with this system were more costly that it would have been without Affordable Care Act. By examining the rates in 2013 and 2014, the average rate in 2014 was extended by 49 percent. There are some advantage and disadvantage to this Affordable Care Act. Its advantages are an aid to the elderly, young adult coverage (being on your parent’s program until age 26), and making chip (Children’s Health Insurance program) easier for children to get. A disadvantage on this program is that there are new taxes that may influence people directly which are called the employer mandate and the individual mandate. Many Lower wages

In the Pre-ACA Era, individuals were not required to purchase insurance. Most individuals were provided health benefits through their employer, but, a significant proportion of the population remained uninsured. This lead to increased health care costs overall and posed several challenges to insurers like adverse selection, moral hazard and high risk pools. In the ACA Era, by authorizing the individual mandate and setting up the insurance marketplace, individuals are pooled together with a patient characteristic other than their health status. This leads to an assortment of individuals in the insurance pool with a combination of high utilizers and low utilizers of health care. Furthermore, the healthy individuals in the risk pool will help offset the costs from sicker individuals. As a consequence of the individual mandate the number of insured individuals will increase as all individuals are required to have some form of insurance.