The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as “Obamacare”, has drastically altered healthcare in America. The goal of this act was to give Americans access to affordable, high quality insurance while simultaneously decreasing overall healthcare spending. The ACA had intended to maximize health care coverage throughout the United States, but this lofty ambition resulted in staggeringly huge financial and human costs. The ACA requires insurers to accept all applicants, cover certain conditions, and charge the same rates despite one 's sex or pre-existing health status. There are ten provisions that make up the ACA which were to be implemented over time, from 2010 through 2020. The first provision is individual insurance, which prohibits insurers to deny coverage based on one 's pre existing health conditions. States were also required to make insurance available to children who are not insured through their families. Medicaid was also expanded to include individuals and families with an average income of thirty thousand dollars a year. This mandate will not cover those who are illegal immigrants, eligible individuals who choose to not be enrolled in medicaid, those who choose to pay the penalty, individuals whose insurance would cost more than 8% of their income, and those who live in states that opt out of the medicaid expansion.
A crucial component of the ACA is the individual and employer mandates. The individual mandate entails that those
The Affordable Care Act makes health insurance a requirement for all Americans to purchase. It eliminates all pre-existing condition underwriting and offers a
In 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. ACA is pivotal legislation that had rippling effects throughout the healthcare system. The Affordable Care Act was drafted with the sole intention of expanding healthcare access across the country. Under the ACA, Americans are now mandated to purchase health insurance or face a penalty. Americans without insurance are able to get coverage by purchasing through the insurance exchange or by qualifying for Medicaid. The poverty level was raised for Medicaid and new provisions allowed single men to also qualify. Anyone that does not qualify for Medicaid would need to purchase a plan on the insurance exchange and various subsidies are available based on income level.
The Affordable Care Act or ACA is a federal statute initiated by President Barack Obama, its intended effects were to supply medical coverage at a low cost to millions of Americans who could not afford access to healthcare. There are a variety of economic and scholarly opinions regarding the ACA’s effect on the healthcare market. Many of these viewpoints have changed over the course of Obama’s presidency as the statute began to affect individuals and the healthcare market.
The Affordable Care Act is a law that was enacted on the 23rd of March 2010. Regardless of the fact that it was put into place in 2010, there are still numerous aspects of the law being debated today. The law has several provisions that are expected to take effect between the year of 2010 and 2020 (Reid, 2012). Among the significant reforms in the law includes a clause prohibiting insurers from refusing people coverage due to some preexisting conditions. In addition, these companies should offer the same price for all clients who are in the same geographical location and are the same age. Another reform was that families that are in the poverty line should receive federal subsidies if they decide to buy insurance through an exchange. The government also created minimum standards for insurance policies. The government also established health insurance exchanges as platforms for comparison of different policies. The Affordable Care Act also has an individual mandate
The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama. The purpose of the Act is a health care law aimed at improving the health care system of the United States by widening health coverage to more Americans, as well as protecting existing health insurance policy holders. As of October 1, 2013, Americans have the option to apply for medical coverage through the government controlled Health Insurance Marketplace website. The Marketplace will allow Americans to apply directly for coverage through multiple insurance companies with price comparisons. The downfalls of the Act are becoming more evident as Obamacare will officially be mandated in
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act or ACA, enables citizens to have affordable health insurance coverage through several legislative provisions (Rosenbaum, 2011). It is through these provisions that the government,
Understanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can be problematic, the goal of the ACA is to address the fact that millions of Americans do not have health insurance, yet they are contributors to the health care market, consuming health care services for which they do not pay. While this may seem to be a great idea, many Americans are not really sure how they are affected by this Health Care Reform. The goal is to make health insurance affordable, secure, and reliable for all. The ACA is a minimum coverage provision, individuals are given health insurance by amending the tax code. There is an individual mandate which stipulates all non-exempt individuals must maintain a minimum level of insurance or pay a tax penalty. ACA extends Medicaid, states have to accept or they will not receive Federal funding. The act also includes an employer mandate to obtain health coverage for employees. The Affordable Care Act has changed the way health care is provided and the way individuals will participate (The Affordable Care Act Cases. (n.d.). Retrieved September 3, 2015)
The Affordable Care Act otherwise known as Obamacare or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law in March 2010 and it has not been without its share of problems, debates and controversies. One of the main points of the debates and controversies with the PPACA has been the legality of the individual mandate. The individual mandate “requires that most Americans obtain and maintain health insurance, or an exemption, each month or pay a tax penalty” . The whole purpose of creating PPACA was to “achieve near-universal coverage and to do so through shared responsibility among government, individuals, and employers” and to be able to “improve the fairness, quality, and affordability of health insurance coverage” also to be able to “improve health-care value, quality, and efficiency while reducing wasteful spending and making the health-care system more accountable to a diverse patient population” .Those were the top three goals that were the foundation when drawing up the policies for The Affordable Care Act to develop what was hoped to be universal healthcare system for the citizens of the United States. While The Affordable Care Act does have its benefits, such as it would cover pre-existing conditions where most private insurances do not do, more people have the ability to get what they call affordable medical insurance, costs of prescriptions are lower and it even offers tax credits for those that purchase the insurance but it also
What is Affordable Care Act? According to Investopedia, the ACA is defined as a law that was sign by Obama in March 2010, in order to expand and cost less for people to have health care protection [1]. Not many people agree to have Affordable Care Act, and that includes people from one of the parties that are known as a Republican. This act helps and provides health insurance of a person from the lower/middle income, however, not many people can qualify to have a health insurance. Then, when the Tax Day comes, people without a health insurance are getting a fee to pay up. Also, the ACA helps business where employees can get a benefit on a health insurance plan [2]. As of today, with a new president,
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was officially signed into legislation in March 2010. The ACA was a major step in achieving a system of universal healthcare, which essentially means all citizens are provided with healthcare and financial protection. In the 1960’s America introduced the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which helped guarantee some type of medical insurance cover for the very poor (Medicaid) and elderly (Medicare). Even though programs like these assisted in covering the most vulnerable groups of people, many Americans still did not have healthcare insurance. The goal of the ACA reform is to ensure that all Americans are covered by some form of health insurance. The ACA promises healthcare access to
The ACA is made up of a series of additions of and changes, to the multiple laws that are made up from the legal framework of the U.S. healthcare system. This act establishes the basic legal protections that have been nonexistent to the United States, will now guarantee access to affordable health insurance coverage for Americans, from when they are born, all the way through his or her retirement. The act hopes in cutting the number of uninsured Americans by more than half of the U.S. population (Rosenbaum, 2011, p.130). This law hopes to result in health insurance coverage for about 94% of the American population (Rosenbaum, 2011, p. 130). This will reduce the population of uninsured Americans by 31 million people, and increase Medicaid enrollment by 15 million recipients (Rosenbaum, 2011, p. 130). Approximately 24 million people are still expected to remain without a coverage plan. The act has several goals. For instance, one goal of the ACA is to have a close to universal coverage system, with the help and responsibility among individuals, employers, and largely, the government. The second goal is to improve the fairness, condition, and affordable prices of health insurance coverage for Americans (Rosenbaum, 2011, p. 130). Lastly, a third goal is to improve the quality of health care through value, excellence, and effectiveness while trying to reduce inefficient spending and making the healthcare system more reachable to a diverse population (Rosenbaum,
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.
Economic policies are meant to address issues facing an economy through strategies that focus on crucial factors. However, the plans’ implementation is guided by analysis of their costs and benefits while changes in crucial factors could have implications of the policies’ success. In that respect, this analysis seeks to demonstrate policy implementation, crucial factors to consider as well as a possible effect of the change in those factors. The study seeks to achieve that objective by using the Affordable Health Care Act, which is a comprehensive reform targeted at the US medical system. (Gruber, 211) First, the analysis provides an overview of three fundamental economic purposes for the plan in view of social and economic costs as well as benefits. The report then analyzes the impact that changes in economic conditions have had on the plan’s success in enhancing savings. Finally, there is an overview of the possible implications that the plan could have in the long run.
According to the textbook, there are three things that the ACA is making sure it is getting done. The first one is that the law is making sure that coverage is affordable for people that have low to moderate income and they lack employer insurance through expanding Medicaid programs. Second, the law is making sure that there is no one that will be denied coverage because they are poor, elderly, or have pre-existing condition through insurance rating reforms. The third aim is including the individual mandate that penalizes people that are not enrolled in any health care coverage. The penalty is $95 or 1% of the family’s income in 2014, $325 or 2% of income in 2015, and $695 or 2.5% of income in 2016 which increases every year without any insurance
The ACA “makes health insurance more secure and reliable for Americans who have it, makes coverage more affordable for families and small business owners, and brings down skyrocketing healthcare costs that have put a strain on individuals, families, employers, and our Federal budget” ("Obamacare Facts", n.d.) by the establishment of laws which govern how healthcare. Under the ACA, provisions regarding enhanced protections for individuals who already had insurance such as dependent coverage, women’s health care, and pre-existing conditions were phased in prior to the full enactment of the ACA. The ACA established the framework for nationalized health insurance which was available for individuals without access to group plans to purchase individual plans at