FC Member Blog

A Government proposal for Change-Health Care Reform Act

BY Douglas Thompson | 04-23-2010 | 5:49 AM

This blog is written by a member of our blogging community and expresses that member's views alone.

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March 2010 may stand out as a monumental month for change
with the Obama Administration-Americans can look forward to changes in the
current health care system through the passing of the Health Care Reform
Act. Though there are many details that
need to be ironed out, there are many changes that have been established.

There are two factors that will have the largest impact for
Americans and America’s health
brokers:

1) The fact
that as of 2014, it is required by law for employers to offer affordable health
insurance plans to all employees.

2) As of 2014, all Americans will be
required to acquire health insurance.

Employers-For
businesses over 100 employees, there may not be many changes. The difference may be that part-time
employees will be offered aid with a percentage of hours in relation to
full-time employment. This will offer
benefits to those who do not have that same opportunity currently as a part-time
employee. With businesses under 100
employees, there will be opportunities for credits from the government to offer
aid with those employees. A percentage
will be paid, based on payroll that will pool to help those who acquire
insurance through an exchange, where many of America’s health
brokers will provide different affordable insurance plans for all
individuals.

What is the
incentive for employers to offer insurance?

Employers will face a fine of up to $2000 per employee for
not providing insurance coverage to an individual employee. These fines can be diverted if the employer
offers an alternative means to acquire insurance (which would require
assistance through the exchange).

Individuals-As of 2014, all Americans (with the exception of
certain special case individuals) will be required to carry some form of
insurance. Insurance will either be
offered through employment or affordable insurance can be purchased through the
exchange. America’s Health
brokers will offer many new plans and opportunities to acquire cheap health insurance.

What is the
incentive for individuals to acquire insurance?

According to the law, there will be a penalty assessed to all
Americans who fail to acquire health insurance by the year 2014. The fine will be originally set at $695 per
person, per year. This will hopefully be
enough to encourage those who are not insured to carry some form of low cost
health insurance.

America’s health
brokers will be seeing some changes that could affect them. Pre-existing conditions will no longer be
applicable in denying insurance to children.
As of 2014, America’s health
brokers cannot deny health insurance to anyone due to a pre-existing
condition. There are other factors that
will change certain policies and conditions.

The Health Care Reform Bill is an opportunity to reorganize
the condition of care that is offered in the United
States.
There are many issues that riddle the care of many Americans, so
hopefully this will provide solutions to some of the larger issues. One key aspect is the fact that all Americans
will have the opportunity to have health care.
This will be advantageous in many aspects: Prescription medications, preventative care,
and treatment.