Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

SHANDALE STITTS

MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or Obamacare was passed into law in 2009 to increase healthcare affordability.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE PPACA

IS TO PROVIDE INSURANCE TO

UNINSURED AMERICANS AND TO

PROVIDE QUALITY HEALTHCARE AT THE

LOWEST RATES POSSIBLE. ALTHOUGH

THE PPACA WAS ENACTED IN 2010 THE

EFFECTS ARE JUST NOW STARTING TO

BE NOTICED IN 2014.

The PPACA comes with many provisions which include:

Expanding insurance options available to new purchasers by creating Health Benefit Exchanges at the state level.

Allowing a penalty to be charged to anyone who does not comply with the mandate.

Imposing penalties on employers that do not offer coverage with more than 50 full-time employees.

Expanding Medicare coverage

(Analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) 2010).

• Requiring health insurance companies to cover anyone who wishes to purchase it regardless of medical history or pre existing conditions.

• Prohibiting health plans from revoking coverage from customers who have already purchased coverage.

• Requiring health premiums based on family size, geography, age, and tobacco use.

• Requiring every uninsured citizen to obtain insurance through private or public programs.

(cont’d)

Since the PPACA requires insurance companies to accept all customers, NBC news writer Maggie Fox reports that as many as 9.9 million people got insurance since the last quarter of 2013, bringing the number of uninsured Americans down from 43.5 million to 36.3 million.

4 million more children will also be insured.

RESEARCHERS CONCLUDE THAT BY 2019 UNDER THE PPACA 25 MILLION AMERICANS OR LESS WILL STILL BE UNINSURED.

IF NO LAWS WERE PUT IN PLACE TO MANDATE HEALTH INSURANCE THE NUMBER OF UNINSURED AMERICANS WOULD BE 53 MILLION IN 2019, HOWEVER.

.

By 2019 around 28 million Americans will obtain insurance through the Health Benefit Exchange

The Health Benefit Exchange offers four basic plans with different values: Bronze (60%), Silver (70%), Gold (80%), and Platinum (90%). The values represent the percentages that health plans will pay on medical bills. As the years go on, more and more people are using the Exchange as a way to find the perfect health plan that suits them. On the other hand, most people obtaining insurance through the Exchange are people with poor health conditions. This will make the cost of everyone’s insurance plans to go up.

The downside to the PPACA is that between 2014 and 2019 government spending associated with the insurance coverage provisions will increase by $899 billion. Most of the increased spending will be due to insurance coverage going up. Taxpayer and state funds are going to have to increase to keep the program in motion.

The PPACA requires individuals and companies that do not purchase insurance to pay a penalty.

BETWEEN NOW AND 2019 IT IS ESTIMATED THAT 54 MILLION DOLLARS WILL BE COLLECTED FROM INDIVIDUALS WHO OWE PENALTY PAYMENTS.

33 billion will be made from now until 2019 from employers that owe for penalty charges. Penalties on large businesses are

starting to create a strain on the job market. Higher health care costs demand for higher taxes from larger corporations for funding.

This cycle will more than likely hurt America as a whole.

To avoid the penalty some small businesses will cut employee hours or not hire. Remember, fines are not paid for the first 30 employees.

The top 2 percent of people and big companies will have to pay higher taxes.

This, in turn, has allowed the government to create159 new boards, agencies and programs to oversee spending and to ensure the PPACA is working correctly.

Medicaid/ Medicare spending will also increase over the next few years. The PPACA expands the eligibility of people that can receive Medicaid or Medicare

THE PPACA ESSENTIALLY CUTS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OUT OF MEDICARD/MEDICAID FUNDING ONLY TO REINVEST IT. A COMMITTEE HAS BEEN SET UP TO OVERSEE SPENDING WHICH IS NOT GOING SO WELL DUE TO UNINTENTIONAL CONSEQUENCES.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has its advantages and disadvantages. However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when it comes to the average uninsured American citizen. It is to ensure health insurance for everyone. Overall it was a risky but great decision to make.

MANY CORRECTIONS AND OTHER REGULATIONS HAVE TO BE MADE FOR IT TO BE THE PERFECT PLAN (ANALYSIS OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (H.R. 3590) 2010).

References FOX, M. (2014, APRIL 16). OBAMACARE HELPED UP TO 10 MILLION GET INSURANCE, GALLUP FINDS. RETRIEVED NOVEMBER 29, 2014, FROM HTTP://WWW.NBCNEWS.COM/HEALTH/HEALTH-CARE/OBAMACARE-HELPED-10-MILLION-GET-INSURANCE-GALLUP-FINDS-N78446

JEANNE S. RINGEL, FEDERICO GIROSI, AMADO CORDOVA, CARTER C. PRICE, ELIZABETH A. MCGLYNN. (2010). ANALYSIS OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (H.R. 3590). ANALYSIS OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (H.R. 3590), 1-13. RETRIEVED NOVEMBER 29, 2014, FROM HTTP://WWW.RAND.ORG/CONTENT/DAM/RAND/PUBS/RESEARCH_BRIEFS/2010/RAND_RB9514.PDF