Facts About Obamacare
Obama Care
President Barack Obama enacted the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010. This act was to ensure that hospitals and primary physicians, change how they operate financially, clinically and technologically and ensure low costs, improved health standards and improved methods of distribution and accessibility. The PPACA (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) was intended to improve health quality, increase health insurance and its affordability; by reducing the costs of healthcare and improving insurance coverage. The law requires the insurers to observe equality regardless of gender or the pre-existing conditions of the applicants. Therefore, the applicants will be charged the same rates and observe a specific list of conditions.
The mechanisms introduced were to help in the following ways;
Individual Mandates
Individual mandate is the requirement to pay a penalty or purchase insurance for everyone not covered by Medicaid, or employer sponsored health and Medicare. It exempted those facing financial problems as well as the members exempted by Internal Revenue Service. This mandate was meant to maintain a stable equilibrium, based on relatively high premiums charged for the covered and some little coverage for the uninsured and therefore more bankruptcy and illnesses.
Business Mandates
Businesses that employ 50 and above people and does not offer health covers to their full time staff members pay a tax penalty when the government has subsidized that employee’s healthcare by tax deductions. The business mandate was included to entice employers to continue providing insurance once the exchanges start operating.
Exchanges Mandates
This resulted from the creation of health insurance exchanges in the fifty states. These exchanges are regulated, administered by federal or state government, where people and small business can buy private insurance plans. The setting up of such an exchange gives the state some level of partial discretion on the price and standards of insurance.
Accountable Care Organizations
The Obama Act allowed the startups of Accountable Care Organizations, which are groups of hospitals and providers that do commit to give well coordinated, high quality health care to patients. They receive bonus payments from the government for reducing costs while attaining quality benchmarks that criticize prevention of chronic diseases. Failure to adhere to this calls for a penalty.
Obamacare Cost Assistance
The three ways to save on money on your health insurance include: Advanced premium tax credits – these reduce your monthly costs on premiums, Cost sharing reduction subsidies that reduce your out of pockets expenses, and Medicaid, which essentially does both.
Benefits and Protections of Obamacare
• Regulating insurance companies that charge more based on Health condition.
• Prevents gender discrimination.
• Gives you the right to a rapid appeal of insurance company decisions.
• Improving Medicare for seniors.
• Letting the young adults stay on their guardians plans until 26 years.
• Obama care prevents insurance companies from limiting the benefits customers receive in their lifetime.
To sum up, the goal of Obama care is to give more Americans access to cheap and affordable, high quality health insurance and to lower the expansion in U.S health care spending. Obama Care is the law of the land, that ensures better quality life for all Americans.