...that have to do with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Healthcare Reform (HR). There are many reason why the ACA and HR effects the pocketbooks of hard working Americans. Many people think that all businesses large and small have to provide health insurances for all employees, which is not a hundred percent accurate. Large business are considered to have over hundred employees and small business are to have under a hundred employees. How the reforms effect the big businesses and small businesses can be different in how much the employer pays and how much the employee pays. There is actual penalties that business will be held accountable if they don’t abide by the strict rules set forth. The effects are felt at all levels of income based, the effects are felt more by middle and upper class income with many of these family’s having to pay more for premiums to the lower class income families can’t afford insurance. Large Businesses Most employers have had some sort of the ACA and HR that has effected them financially, many have felt this financially through first of all the penalties they have acquired by not following the health care laws by not either providing the health care at all or not providing the correct level of health care for their employees. The penalties can range from $2000-$3000 just depending on the reason for the company being penalized. The Mandate Penalty ($2,000) applies if an employer does not offer group health coverage, The Qualification Penalty...
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...The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Businesses Sadie Boyd Webster University FINC 5000 Abstract This research paper was created to bring a better understanding on how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act affect business, government, and average American. Small business owners have historically had a much harder time providing themselves and their employees with insurance due to rising health insurance costs; meanwhile bigger businesses remain largely unaffected due to the leverage buying large group health plans gives them. This problem has only gotten more severe in the past decade. Today, almost half of America's uninsured are small business owners, employees or their dependents. There are around 44 million Americans who currently are unable to get health insurance. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA,) signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Several rationales were offered in support of this legislation, including that it would lead to the creation of jobs and the reduction of the federal budget deficit. Everyone is affected by this health care in one way or another. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Consistent with respected economists‟ forecasts, the health care law contains a number of provisions that will eliminate jobs, reduce hours and wages, and limit future job creation. Specifically, the law: * Penalizes employers for failing to offer coverage deemed acceptable by the government; ...
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...Health Care Reform and the Resulting Effects Kristen Opp Benedictine University Health Care Reform and the Resulting Effects Health Care reform, the expansion of healthcare coverage to the uninsured and unemployed, is under speculation regarding its long term economic impact. Although it will get more individuals covered with insurance it will come at a cost to small businesses and tax payers. These changes may be what most consider improvements but we must look at the long term affects on our healthcare system, for example it will also result in “$500 billion in Medicare cuts over the next decade” (Jackson & Nolen, March 21, 2010). Speculation is that healthcare reform is a band aid fixing existing problems and lowering the deficit but could be setting future Medicare plan participants up for hardship. The short term positive effects include free preventative care under Medicare, help for early retirees, end of rescissions and discrimination for pre existing conditions, and bans life time limits on coverage to name a few according to David Hancock in a recent CBSNEWS article (2010). Another simple speculation is that hospitals will benefit due to increased insurance coverage which will mean more patients through the door and less abandoned bad dead accumulated by uninsured patients unable to pay. Research on long term affects has not been quite as positive or conclusive. Most likely as a result of the new tax on unearned income (investments) there will be a negative...
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...Health Care Reform For The United States COM 220 4/18/2010 Natasha Brown Health care reform for the United States Even though it will cost taxpayers a small amount more, Americans have the right to free health care. There are forty seven million Americans are without health insurance and the bill will stop insurance companies from denying Americans from coverage. What the government is trying to pass is a new health insurance reform legislation that will give coverage to many Americans who desperately need it. The benefits for the people would be that everyone would have coverage. This legislation would also hold insurance companies accountable and keep soaring insurance premiums down. This would also reduce the deficit and better the economy over time as well as reducing the cost that businesses have. What is Health care reform? Health care reform is a legislation that President Obama has signed into law to improve the United States by offering basic health care to every American. “The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who have insurance; quality affordable options for those who don’t; and bring down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the government while strengthening the financial health of Medicare. And it is legislation that is fully paid for and will reduce our long-term federal deficit ” (Obama, 2009, Statement of President Barack Obama on House Passage of...
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...How Does Your Business Fair? (The Impact of Affordable Care Act on Small Business) On March 23, 2010 President Obama signed into law the comprehensive health reform known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act informally known as Affordable Care Act. According to the Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisors (EOP/CEA), “the key goals of health care reform is to reduce the growth rate of costs while maintaining choice of doctors and health plans and assuring quality, affordable health care for all Americans.” (The Economic Case for Health Care Reform, June 2009) The ACA is created to improve the overall quality of health care delivery and its’ systems while adding new consumer protections. In the ACA there is a clause known as the individual mandate. This mandate requires most U.S. citizens and legal residents to obtain qualifying health care insurance coverage, and if not will be required to pay a tax penalty. Effective January 1, 2014 employers with fifty or more employees that do not provide affordable health coverage will receive an assessment where for those businesses with less than fifty employees are exempt. States have created health benefit exchanges for individuals and small businesses through which health coverage can be purchased at affordable prices. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published several fact sheets and brochures highlighting what the ACA means for large and small businesses, individuals...
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...Katie Bender OL690 Health Care Reform The Affordable Health care act was signed into effective on March 23, 2010 (Healthcare.gov). The purpose of the Patient Protection and affordale care act was Healthcare reform, yet there were other provision through into the law to get it passed. The law best known as Obama Care, is being challenged in the court system since it went into effect. In March of 2012, the constituality of the law will be agrued in front of the Supreme Court. The impact on the spheres and stakeholder is greater then what the Supreme Court will have to deciside. The Court system will be making the decision on “whether the law’s central mandate is constituional ad the justices will also determine whether the rest of the law can take effect even if that central mandate is help unconstitutional.” (Sherman, 2011) Taking a look at the impacts on the different sphere will allow us to determine the impact on the stakeholders and allows us to take a look at what the justices will be hearing. The constutionality of the law is a major factor with the Health care act. Many people feel that the government does not have the right to require everyone to have health care. They feel that the impact of doing this is not justifiable based on the different spheres. The civil sphere, which is “comprises entities and organization that develop civility and coherence through the long-term building of civilized community and socail capital, the capital...
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...Affordable Care Act: Impact on Providers Quality vs. Quantity Abstract The Affordable Care Act’s proposal was to make sure that health insurance coverage is affordable for individuals, families, and businesses and decrease the amount of uninsured individuals. . Much of the impact of this act will begin when the major coverage provisions take effect in 2014. Providers will experience an increased burden in many aspects of their medical profession including new legal practicing liabilities, less autonomy, administrative encumbrances, shortages of primary care physicians, and political infringement (Horton, Hollier 2012). The provider is to maintain high quality of care while the ACA’s agenda is cost and quantity over quality. The Affordable Care Act is the largest piece of legislative reform in American history relating to health care. The impact to our economy on many levels of scale and our constitutional rights are all being questioned and debated without a definitive answer to long term reality of its implications. Reform is necessitous to the continuance of providing care, controlling fraudulent activities and waste, as well as, exploring new innovative ways to maintain a high level of quality services within the legalities of our legislative branch. The balance of these aspects have been challenging and perplexing in materializing the reforms into fruition. The concentration during reform has been on quantity of the insured population...
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...Health Care Issues The most important issue in the future of healthcare in the U.S. is whether the Affordable Care Act is a step in the right direction to control rising healthcare costs and to provide all Americans access to health insurance. There are many other costs associated with healthcare in America. There are costs in losses of production and costs that could have been avoided if preventive healthcare had been more readily available. Another facet of the issue is whether Obamacare can give all Americans access to health care without compromising the quality of health care in the U.S. Another goal of the Affordable Care Act is to uphold quality health care in Americans without costing more to obtain it. In other words it needs to be looked at if penalties incurred will cost Americans more overall then the out-of-pocket costs in current health care system. The other major concern which is raised due to being a real issue in other health care systems is “being put on waiting lists for health care”. Will health care reform, under the new laws, be provided efficiently without waiting in line? Facts As of March 2010, 16.3% of Americans have no insurance coverage, 55.3% of Americans covered by employee provided insurance and 9.8% had to direct purchase insurance. The remaining Americans are covered under government insurance (Medicare or Medicaid). The average spending on health care per American is currently at $7,290. Despite this fact the U.S. ranks poorly...
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...Research Paper: Healthcare Services and The Affordable Care Act (ACA). Table of Contents: Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………...3 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….3 Background of the Affordable Care Act …………………………………………………4 The Affordable Care Act………………………………………………………………….. 5 Methodology………………………………………………………………………………...8 Collection of Data…………………………………………………………………………..9 Primary………………………………………………………………………………10 Secondary…………………………………………………………………………..11 The Environmental Working Group………………………………………………………12 Primary Survey…………………………………………………………………….13 Questions and Answers…………………………………………………………...14 Findings from the collection of information and data…………………………………..15 Conclusion and recommendations……………………………………………………….17 Appendix A: SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………..19 Appendix B: EWG’s Business Strategy …………………………………………………26 Appendix C: EWG’s Business Analyses………………………………………………...32 Appendix D: References…………………………………………………………………..37 Abstract Healthcare has been a topic of debate since a long period of time. The recent changes in the government legislation have specified some employer-based requirements for the healthcare provision to employees. Many organizations have also been impacted by the legislative amendments. The following section will cover the introductory knowledge of the Affordable Care Act along with its objectives. Furthermore, we will discuss the impact of this act has on the American society...
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...Policy Process: The Affordable Care Act Dinah Riveron HCS/455 May 18, 2015 John Cutspec Policy Process: The Affordable Care Act The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010 as the means to enforce Health Insurance reform. Its main object is to make Health Insurance and Preventive care accessible and affordable to the American population. The Affordable Care Act The ACA major components include: Medicaid expansion, allowing states the opportunity to expand their existing Medicaid programs to include, (OPA, 1015) “individuals under 65 years of age with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level… (as well as) certain low-income adults without children” (Medicaid Expansion). Health Insurance Marketplace (HIM), available for access to individuals and small businesses enabling them to compare a variety of plans on the basis of price, quality and benefits and to choose the most affordable option according to their needs. The proposed three models are State Operated, State and Government Operated, and Federal Government Operated, for States that choose not to establish a program. Under the ACA, health services provided by all Insurance companies (participating or not on the HIM) are required to offer individuals and small businesses, affordable health Insurance plans that allow access to ten services identified as Essential Health Benefits (EHB). EHB services include, Ambulatory and Emergency services, Hospitalization...
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...------------------------------------------------- What Would Health Care Reform Mean for Small Businesses and their Workers? ------------------------------------------------- What Would Health Care Reform Mean for Small Businesses and their Workers? HLTH 5120 Health Policy Issues Valerie G. Austin 16 May 2012 HLTH 5120 Health Policy Issues Valerie G. Austin 16 May 2012 Valerie G. Austin Dr. James M. Brasfield HLTH 5120 Health Policy Issues 16 May 2012 What Would Health Care Reform Mean for Small Businesses and their Workers? The Affordable Care Act Increases Choice and Saving Money for Small Businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but high health care costs and declining coverage have hindered small business owners and their employees. (Health Reform for Small Businesses/WhiteHouse.Gov) Part I Introduction The creation of the Affordable Care Act has brought many persons into a disagreement and has been in argument thru many administrations. Therefore we as a people should come together and set forth a plan that will be a benefit to All Americans. If we are to fix the economy of America we must repair the healthcare system. By reforming our healthcare system it will allow for you to maintain the coverage you have or seek another, delivering quality of care at a decreasing cost and waste elimination, allowing small businesses to remain competitive and reforming insurance coverage so there would never be a threat of losing coverage. “The Affordable Care Act requires states...
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...Bajwa Microeconomics May 10, 2010 Health Care Reforms: What They Mean to Me and the United States Can anyone accurately predict the outcome of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010? At this point it is all just speculation. The Federal Government, mainly the Democrats and the Department of Health and Human Services, paints one idealistic picture of the reform. The Federal Government envisions healthcare for all Americans at minimal expense to the consumer. The funding for this would come from a mixture of sources, including taxes on “rich” people, a new tax on expensive insurance, fees on healthcare industries, a tanning tax, and cuts on Medicare spending. Insurance companies are required to be more efficient and the increased competition should also decrease the cost of insurances policies. In theory, this all sounds great and would benefit me, my family, and other Americans with preexisting conditions but the critics are skeptical that all will go as planned. The Republicans and big business are predicting the worst outcomes of the new law. Even the Chief Actuary of the Medicare Program has now made some dire predictions on the actuality of the law, including an increase in spending. Critics predict that businesses may cut employee healthcare and pay the lower cost penalties instead. The cuts to Medicare Part A may put hospitals in debt and threaten access to care for seniors. The system may be...
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... Labor Market Consequences Of State Health Insurance Regulation by R. Kaestner (2002). Kaestner begins her article by explaining that in the past decade, most states in the U.S. have passed legislation that regulates issuance, content, and pricing of private group health insurance plans. She continues to explain that the purpose of this legislation is to raise the number of insured persons and ensure that people who are sick receive needed care. One major reason for implementing new legislation was the fact that there were so many uninsured people that were employed (Kaestner, 2002). According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2000, twenty-three million people between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four were employed but uninsured in the U.S. in 1987. Furthermore, that number increased throughout the late eighties (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). Kaestner believes that the reason for so many uninsured employed people is that insurance industries refused to sell insurance to companies that are considered high-risk companies. Because of that, one out of every two employees were uninsured. Kaestner explains that to combat this, states started limiting insurance companies’ unfair practices through legislation called reform. Furthermore, Kaestner explains that another major reason that led to a change in laws and legislation was state regulated mandated health insurance benefits. She explains that in order to ensure that people still receive appropriate care, states have specified the types of...
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...Health Care Utilization Paper (Option A) Tammy Zoch Instructor Rebecca Loth Luetke HCS/235: Delivery of Health Care in the U.S. 29 April 2013 Thesis Statement The Health Care Reform is a complex issue and is a hot topic nationwide that has the government, health care facilities and providers, insurance companies, health care employees and Americans talking about the law with its advantages and disadvantage affecting the delivery of health care. Health Care Utilization Paper (Option A) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 signed on March 30th. The Act is a product of the health care reform efforts of the Democratic 111th Congress and the Obama administration (Wikipedia, Health Care Reform,2013), putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices. The law allows all Americans to make health insurance choices that work for them while guaranteeing access to care for the most vulnerable, and provides new ways to bring down costs and improve quality of care (The White House, 2013), to take effect and be completed in 2014. According to the website www.healthcare.gov, the Health Reform is already making a difference by increasing access to affordable care, making care more affordable, strengthen Medicare, holding insurance...
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...Increasing health plan premium costs are a growing burden for the employers who choose to provide health insurance coverage to employees. For small business owners operating on limited budgets, these increases are even more significant. The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) creates additional responsibilities for employers regarding the minimum requirements and pricing of insurance plans for employees. Employers make difficult decisions to determine how to continue to provide health insurance at a fair and reasonable price, without harming the small business. The case study by Spencer (2014) examines the options of small business owners, John and Liza, faced with a 25% increase in health insurance rates. Once it is determined that the increase is due to the age and health status of several employees, the owner must decide whether to penalize certain employees with increased contributions, or have all workers absorb the added costs equally. In addition, there is concern that hiring a potential new employee, Robert, will increase insurance rates even further due to the pre-existing health condition of his spouse. It is challenging to select an option that has a fair and balanced impact on the company and its employees. While financially it is easiest for the company to have each employee absorb the cost of the premium increase, this is not a fair option if premium increases for all are due to the lifestyle factors of a small representation. There is an increased risk of...
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