Affordable Care Act: Anything but Affordable
Affordable Care Act: Anything but Affordable
The Affordable Care Act is a piece of legislation that aims to extend healthcare coverage to millions of Americans. This bill has divided the nation and in some circles discussions end in bitter arguments.
Those that support the bill feel it is the nation’s moral duty to grant everybody coverage, and many of those that oppose the bill are alarmed at the fiscal implications it brings. The Affordable Care Act was summarized by Avik Roy as follows:
Some will be signed up for Medicaid and consigned to a lifetime of poor health care. Some will gain access to the subsidized exchanges, but will find it harder to gain employment as a result. And those who already have insurance, and are being squeezed by ever-increasing premiums, will be squeezed even harder by the law’s thoughtless blizzard of mandates and regulations (Roy, “How Obamacare Harms the Poor”). The intentions of the Affordable Care Act are respectable, but the end result will disadvantage citizens that pay for their own health insurance and will impact small businesses and their employees on a greater scale than the rest of the population. Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance that meets government regulations to employees or face a fine of $2,000 per employee, minus the first 30 employees. In other words, a firm with 50 employees that fails to offer health insurance will be fined $40,000 and a firm with 100 employees would be fined $140,000 each year (“Obamacare Will Crush Small Businesses”).
Businesses that currently offer health insurance to employees and firms looking to start offering health insurance in order to comply with the law will see a sharp increase in the cost of health insurance premiums. Employees of David Barr, who owns 23 Taco Bell and KFC locations in Alabama and Georgia, “likely will see little change in their coverage.” Barr Said, “[But] our premiums will go up
The Affordable Care Act is a piece of legislation that aims to extend healthcare coverage to millions of Americans. This bill has divided the nation and in some circles discussions end in bitter arguments.
Those that support the bill feel it is the nation’s moral duty to grant everybody coverage, and many of those that oppose the bill are alarmed at the fiscal implications it brings. The Affordable Care Act was summarized by Avik Roy as follows:
Some will be signed up for Medicaid and consigned to a lifetime of poor health care. Some will gain access to the subsidized exchanges, but will find it harder to gain employment as a result. And those who already have insurance, and are being squeezed by ever-increasing premiums, will be squeezed even harder by the law’s thoughtless blizzard of mandates and regulations (Roy, “How Obamacare Harms the Poor”). The intentions of the Affordable Care Act are respectable, but the end result will disadvantage citizens that pay for their own health insurance and will impact small businesses and their employees on a greater scale than the rest of the population. Under the Affordable Care Act, businesses with 50 or more employees are required to offer health insurance that meets government regulations to employees or face a fine of $2,000 per employee, minus the first 30 employees. In other words, a firm with 50 employees that fails to offer health insurance will be fined $40,000 and a firm with 100 employees would be fined $140,000 each year (“Obamacare Will Crush Small Businesses”).
Businesses that currently offer health insurance to employees and firms looking to start offering health insurance in order to comply with the law will see a sharp increase in the cost of health insurance premiums. Employees of David Barr, who owns 23 Taco Bell and KFC locations in Alabama and Georgia, “likely will see little change in their coverage.” Barr Said, “[But] our premiums will go up
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