Affordable Care Act Background: Healthcare insurance is an important benefit everyone should have, but before the “Affordable Care Act,” health insurance was too expensive for families to pay for. Those who could afford the high cost would need to be in an excellent health state before any insurance company would accept to be their healthcare coverage provider. Meaning that individuals who already had a preexisting medical condition would be denied by insurance companies, which made it tough to get coverage without being extremely healthy. In March 2010, the healthcare reform law known as Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as “Obamacare” was enacted. One of the goals of ACA is to make healthcare insurance that is affordable to more …show more content…
It has selected 13 health insurance companies to offer individual plans in the exchange. ACA requires that the policies are assigned in four levels and that each insurance provider has at least a policy in each level. In the bronze level the insurance provider covers 60 percent of the cost, in the silver level the insurer covers 70 percent of the cost, in the gold level they cover 80 percent of the cost, and in the platinum level the insurer covers 90 percent of the costs.
The Mandate: The Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate requires that any eligible American obtains and maintains, at least minimum essential coverage, monthly health insurance plan or to pay a tax penalty, called an Individual Shared Responsibility Payment. This mandate was put into effect at the beginning of January 2014 and will continue yearly. Those who do are not covered by a health insurance each month of the year will have to pay a penalty at the time of their Federal Income Tax Returns for each month they did not have insurance unless they are qualified for an exemption. The penalty would be reported on line 61 of the IRS 1040 form. Americans should keep in mind that this penalty for not having health insurance each month through out the year increases each year (Obamacare Facts). If the taxable income is below the filing threshold then the person would be exempt from this tax. In essence, the Affordable Care Act was implemented due to many Americans being unable to see a
In 2010, the United States created The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The objective was to share the responsibility of costs between the government, individuals, and employers to provide affordable access to quality health insurance. “However, health coverage remains fragmented, with numerous private and public sources, as well as wide gaps in insured rates across the U.S. population.” (“United States: International Health Care System Profiles,” n.d.). Each individual state within the US, generally has control over private insurance.
Leading up to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act the United States of America had been in a major recession with consistent increases in medical costs in conjunction with increased rates of uninsured populations. Pre-existing conditions were a major concern for people wanting to move around in the job market or shop
Large populations of Americans are uninsured mainly because of the high cost of insurance. Majority of the uninsured are the low-income working families’. The adults represent a higher percentage of the uninsured than children. Before the law, you could be denied coverage or treatment because you had been sick in the past, be dropped mid-treatment for making a simple mistake on your application, hence, the Affordable Care Act was implemented into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barrack Obama to make sure that every American irrespective of their status will be insured and have full access to proper health care benefits, rights and protection(1). To understand the
The Affordable Care Act set in place by President Obama to reduce health care costs and give affordable health insurance to Americans (Landmark,2010). Before the Affordable Care Act existed, many Americans were denied coverage, some because of pre-existing illnesses or injuries, which made it very exhausting for many Americans to get insurance they can afford. (Landmark, 2010). This could lead to a shortness of life expectancy to Americans.
The first main issue that people are concerned with, and that causes confusion, is what will happen to people if they do not get their own health insurance by the time the Act takes effect. In short, they will be fined or penalized (McDonough, 2011). This penalty is seen as
The signing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 was a big step forward in fixing the broken healthcare system in the United States. Unfortunately the law did not do enough to help a large segment of the population achieve its named goal. Due to high deductibles and other cost sharing in lower tier plans, healthcare continues to be unaffordable to many.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare or ACA, is the health reform law enacted in 2010 by Congress. The official name of this reform is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Many provisions of the law are already in effect and the rest are going to continue to develop until 2022. After a year of intense political wrangling, the health reform initiative was passed by Congress. Even though it falls short of providing universal coverage, it is unlike the Clinton proposal. The Affordable Care Act was intended to expand US citizens’ and legal residents’ access to health insurance coverage, control future costs, and improve the functioning of the healthcare delivery system. It improves access to care and balances spending through regulations and taxes. Healthcare has always been a crisis in the US and the Affordable Care Act contains hundreds of different provisions that address these aspects. The Affordable Care Act increases the quality of health insurance at an affordable price so all Americans can have access to it. In exchange, most people who can afford to obtain health coverage must by 2014 or pay a per month fee. The ACA offers Americans a number of new benefits. It sets up a Health Insurance Marketplace where we can purchase federally regulated and subsidized Health Insurance during open enrollment. It expands Medicaid to all adults in many states, as well as improving Medicare for seniors and those with long term disabilities. Obamacare expands
There are so many people here in the country that is not getting their complete health care coverage because of preventable conditions. Most Americans only receive half of the services suggested. The Affordable Care Act is mainly directed to the needs of Americans in need of healthcare that are not already covered.
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 Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in March of 2010. The Affordable Care Act was created by Barack Obama to help Begin the process to reform the health care system. By having the Affordable Care Act in place it will implement measures that will lower health care cost and Improve system efficiency. It will also help eliminate industry practices that will deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions which will be very helpful to people who have experienced that? There were more than 44 million people that did not have medical insurance because they couldn’t afford it. Having this law in place will be able to help those 44 million people get medical insurance. Before The Affordable Care Act was passed there were a lot of insurance companies that could deny people because of their insurance coverage right in the middle of them doing treatment? Which are ridiculous people who do not have
President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, into law on March 23rd 2010. Congress had tried for decades to pass health care reform, beginning with President Franklin Roosevelt. “Following President Obama’s inauguration, he used Democrat control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate to enact health care reform legislation, and granted the federal government control of over 16% of our nations economy” (Taylor 3). The law states that every American citizen is mandated to purchase health insurance. “If you choose not to obtain Health Insurance by January 2014, you will be penalized $95, or 1% of your income-whichever is greater” (Taylor 5). “The penalty rate for non-compliance will
Millions of people couldn't afford health insurance before the ACA was passed. The ACA made health insurance affordable and eliminated discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Before the ACA, insurance companies would drop or increase premiums due to a late developing "pre-existing condition" and "unrelated cancer surgery." The insurance companies would terminated coverage for women who receive treatment for sexual or domestic violence (and other
The changes taking effect on the health care system can be greatly utilized by Americans, whether it is in a good or bad way. Today, most Americans do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it. With the Affordable Care Act, these Americans will be able to receive health care benefits. President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010. It was created to increase access to insurance coverage, whether through a private
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 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).