Why Is It So Difficult?

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.

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 ACA has Americans searching for a health insurance company, however, not everyone can afford one. This makes it an issue on whether it is possible to enforce such statute if insurance is not accessible for all. The solution brought about with Obamacare was the creation of subsidies. The first form of cost assistance is the use of premium tax credits which lowers premiums. Just as Medicaid, tax credits depend upon income in which the lower your income the lower the percentage you will have to pay towards health

However, for lowering the cost of health insurance, there is a gap between the before cost and the lowered cost. To fill in the gap the government enforces new taxes, specifically, onto the higher-earners. This is bad news for the rich but good news for the lower class. Individual mandate and employer mandate are also enforced. According to the individual mandate, if the lower-classmen can afford the insurance but choose to not purchase one, they are penalized with an annually increasing fee; this fee will help fill in the gap difference. On the other hand, if one cannot afford insurance, he/she can ask for an exemption. For employer mandate, all businesses that have 50 or more full-time equivalent (FTE) employers are required to provide health insurance for their FTE employers or to pay a monthly Employment Shared Responsibility Payment, formerly known as the annual employer mandate fee, which is due annually on the employer federal tax returns. In order to avoid the fees and the hassle, most of the smaller businesses that make the minimal revenue to keep their business going would want to reduce their workforce to fewer than 50 employees, thus, increasing the unemployment rate. Plus, those employees will not receive health coverage from their job. However, note that larger businesses more than likely cannot decrease their workforce and will have to pay the fees or to provide insurance for

While reductions can occur those that will see a reduction will only account for 35 percent of small businesses while the remaining 65 percent will see an increase (Harrison). The reason why the reduction percentage is so low compared to the increase is because in the ACA in order to be eligible for a decrease a firm has to have exceptionally sick or at-risk workers. We have already seen a change in these rates and according to the National Small Business Association premiums in 2009 was $590 per employee monthly and now in 2014 they have spiked to $1,121 per employee per month. Now while these are just numbers and the people that wrote these words do not personally own businesses you can assume that there is some bias in the words and that is why using a real time business owner would be the best way to see the impact it has had

Third, the ACA regulates health care coverage in the United States. According to Lussier et al. (2016), the act mandates that all employers with more than 50 employees provide their full-time employees with health care coverage or face penalties for failing to do so” (p. 494). This act specifies that if organizations choose not to provide employees with benefits, they will be forced to pay a penalty for each eligible employee. However, organizations that do offer employee health and retirement plans must meet minimum requirements and comply with ERISA (Lussier et al, 2016). Employers and employees

Under the ACA for individuals, they are able to select their health care coverage either through their employer, through the government, by finding a plan on their own, or have no insurance coverage at all and face the tax penalty, year after year that the taxpayer goes without coverage. There are actually ways that the individual can benefit from when filing their taxes. An option for selecting health care coverage is through the government’s website exchange, this is referenced to the Premium tax credit. Under this credit as defined in 26 C.F.R. § 1.36B-1 , individuals are able to select their own health care coverage with the plans being labeled as on silver, bronze, gold, or platinum plans, and gives the taxpayer a refund on the premium amount. If a taxpayer plans on selecting one of these, the government will give you a tax break if your income places you under the 400% of the poverty level (Obamacare, 2015). Under ACA, employers are now faced with a challenge of their own, if they have 50 or more employees they are now required to offer healthcare coverage to their full-time employees, and if they do not they will be faced to pay a tax penalty. With smaller employers they would be offered a tax break on offering their employees coverage through the government marketplace. Another way that the ACA changed the tax on other companies is

The Affordable Care Act aims to help small businesses get health insurance for their workers. According to the US government, the Act should "help increase the number of primary care physicians, nurses, physician assistants and other health care professional.

Monahan and Schwarcz (2013) identify three threats to small group health insurance markets that may result from the 2014 implementation of certain provisions of the ACA:

The penalties companies will face are intended to motivate them to offer suitable health insurance to their employees, Bob Mcdevitt, union President of Local 54 of UNITE-HERE said, “The average cost of health insurance for my members is $6,000 per year. If the company pulled out that cost would be reduced to $2,000 and that’s supposed to be a penalty? A basic economic principle is if you can walk away from those kinds of legacy costs, it’s very enticing for any employer” (Miller, “Businesses Fearful”). I asked a

The purpose of this report is to clarify how to account for a more than 2% shareholder S Corporation Owners’ Health insurance from a payroll perspective, in light of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace reforms. Additionally, for the small business S corporation; is it possible to assist employee’s with health insurance premiums without running afoul of marketplace reforms? The internet is rampant with conflicting advice on these seemingly simple questions. The most recent guidance from the IRS (notice 2015-17) is more of a reprieve on penalties, rather than guidance. Additionally, the June 30, 2015 deadline for reprieves has passed; which has accountants and taxpayers waiting for additional “guidance” while sorting out

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”).

In anticipation of Obamacare, employers will need to decide what the most effective economic choice is for his or her business. The business will have to insure their employees and may qualify for a tax credit or pay a 2,000 penalty a year for each uninsured employee. Obamacare will give small businesses tax breaks and credits to cover small businesses cost increase. Whereas ninety six of employers won’t pay further taxes, there is an increase to the current Medicare Part A, paid by 3% of businesses and employees making over $200,000. There is also a requirement for employers with the equivalent of over 50 full-time employees to obtain health insurance for their workers or pay a penalty by 2015. Employers will have the option of providing health insurance coverage for all of their workers or paying a penalty (“Opposing employer mandate”). Employers that offer coverage must meet a minimum benefit and contribution requirement

“Morgan what is wrong? Just tell me what is going on and I will help.” I remember these words spoken by my mother on an occasion where I was hysterically crying with tears rolling down my cheeks like waves in the ocean. There was a build up inside of me because something was wrong, but I did not know how to express it. In my head I had a wave of emotion causing some outward distress, but I did not know how to express my feelings in words. All I wanted was a way to release my words so they could fall out of my mouth and relieve me from my build up of emotions, but the words would not come. It was as if my emotions were bottled up inside me waiting to explode like a bomb, but it never exploded. Why is it so difficult for me to express emotions in words that can be heard by others? This ability must be something instinctual, maybe something written in the concrete unchangeable DNA of a person, but somehow this trait has skipped me.