The Healthcare Reforms Act 2010

President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010. This law puts in place widespread health insurance reforms that expanded out over the last 4 years and continues to change the lives of many Americans today. Health care reform has been an extensively debated topic for multiple years, and the ACA is the first effective attempt at passing a law aiming to make health care not only affordable, but accessible for all individuals. The law impacts many Americans including, children, employers, government programs which includes federal and state, health plans and private insurers, health care coverage, health care cost, and the quality of care received. The main goal of the law is to expand health care coverage, broaden Medicaid eligibility, minimize and regulate health care cost, and improve the health care delivery system. In order to improve the health care delivery there have been new consumer protections established and an increase access to affordable care.

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.

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

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,

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has repeatedly stated that the cost of health insurance is a high ranking concern for small business owners. Every year they conduct a study to see what the top general concerns facing small business owners. In each fiscal year since 1986 the cost of health insurance has been shown to be the top burden facing small business owners in America. (Wade, Holly Pg 24, table 5). Another important factor to consider are business which suffer from lost capacity due to employee illnesses or unemployment cost. Brad Plumer of the Washington Post recently conducted a 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 wasted each year as a result of lost productivity at the workplace (Plumer, Brad). While Mr. Plumer 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.

This health reform will offer tax credits to about four million small business men and women to help cover the cost The Small Business Health

A health care reform provides more people with health insurance coverage, set up ways consumers can shop for insurance, and provide legal protection for consumers. Health reform builds upon our current health insurance system. Currently, most Americans are required to have health insurance. Other steps include the expansion of Medicaid which allows more people at lowest incomes to qualify and Americans with moderate income who do not qualify for Medicaid gets provided with credits to purchase health insurance coverage. The health reform also, encourages employers that don’t provide health insurance to now provide it. Also, the health reform imposes protections to guard against unreasonable rate increase. If states want to provide protection

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”).

Health reform strives to provide health insurance to those who are uninsured, have a pre-existing condition and are denied by healthcare plans, and/or people who cannot afford health care insurance due to the high premiums. Furthermore, health reform provides tax breaks to small businesses so that they can afford insurance to their employees, free coverage for prevention services such as vaccines and screenings, assistance with drug coverage for Medicare patients, and providing insurance options for individuals so that a healthcare plan will fit their needs.

The affordable Care Act implemented in March of 2010 by president Obama reform the way health care was previously run in the United States. The law went into effect, which allowed many Americans who did not currently have insurance and health care coverage to the ability to purchase coverage and access to health care. “ According to the CDC “ the affordable care act of 2010 is designed to provide access to coverage for previously uninsured Americans “ Center of Disease Control (2014).

Health care reform essentially change the social contract rooted in employer-sponsored medical benefits and how employees value health insurance as a form of repayment. The new law guarantees the right to health insurance regardless of an individual’s medical status, it minimizes the moral of the employers, they may feel to cover the sickest employees, who would otherwise be denied coverage in today’s individual health insurance market. Reform preserves the corporate tax advantages associated with offering health benefits, except for high-premium insurance plans.

This increased employee benefits cost combined with small businesses inability to negotiate an affordable contract with insurance companies is forcing employers to search for a more cost efficient approach or discontinue health insurance coverage. In order to stay competitive and still reduce costs companies are attempting to reduce costs some companies have turned to shifting the added costs to employees. This results in employees having to pay a higher premium for group health insurance coverage.

Currently, businesses with fifty or more full time employees must provide health insurance for those employees and their dependents or pay a fee (How the Affordable Care Act Affects Small Businesses). This is a hindrance to some, and in fact stifles the growth of small businesses in America. If these companies were not forced to provide insurance for their employees, they would be able to spend the money elsewhere. The funds could go to other employee benefits such as more vacation and bonuses or even for expanding the business. The implications of more privately owned business, or the expanse of already existing businesses, is that there will be more jobs

With major insurance provisions beginning January 1, 2014, small business owners can expect further increased costs.” (Eckerly Susan, 2009).Thus our current healthcare system is not a citizen supportive system. It needs to be planned in a way that everyone can get

In 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (HHS, 2014). This law placed health insurance reforms put consumers in charge of their health care choices (HHS, 2014). The Affordable Care Act has been working to make health care more affordable, accessible with high quality for families, seniors, businesses and more (HHS, 2014). This law also was intended to change the Medicaid programs by providing federal funding for states to adopt a national Medicaid income-based eligibility standard, improve Medicaid reimbursement for primary care services, maintain the existing Medicaid and CHIP eligibility requirements, and improve the Medicaid enrollment process (ACP, 2013).