Obamacare and Small Business

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, or, “Obamacare” as it has been dubbed by the media and general public was approved on June 8, 2012 when the “The Supreme Court of the United States upheld most provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by a 5-4 vote” (James, "Affordable Care Act and Pharmacy: Big Changes Ahead?"). This vote and approval has completely reshaped the landscape of the healthcare field, not only from a provider’s aspect, but from a consumer’s aspect as well. The need for healthcare reform was made apparent due to the growing

Sabatino, Charles (2010). The Evolution of Health Care Advance Planning Law and Policy. The Milbank Quarterly, (88) 2, 211 – 239 Retrieved from the Milbank Quarterly

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (signed March 30), the Act is a product of the health care reform efforts of the Democratic 111th Congress and the Obama administration. The law includes health-related provisions to take effect over the next four years, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. While the act is directed at addressing one of the country's most pressing problems, it generated much controversy as a consequence of the ethical dilemmas that it brings on. The act provides individuals with a wider range of choices and control over their health coverage. It provides a series of benefits such as people getting lower costs on coverage, several important health benefits being covered in the Marketplace, more help in local areas, and pre-existing conditions being covered. However, it also involves a legislation claiming that most people have to have health coverage by 2014, with those who do not have it having to pay a fee.

Obama’s Health Care Reform, better known as ObamaCare was signed into law on March 23, 2010. It is officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or Affordable Care Act (ACA). This act is meant to provide affordable, good quality health care to all Americans and to cut health care spending. The ACA has been on ongoing struggle to reform the health care system. Almost 50 million Americans still lack health coverage despite the fact that ObamaCare continues to help provide an increasing amount of Americans with access to affordable, quality health insurance . ObamaCare doesn’t take place until 2014, 2013 is considered one of the most important years in history of ObamaCare.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is the first major healthcare act passed since the 1967's Medicare and Medicade act. Obamacare is the name given by critics, because of the power that is given to the federal government to regulate healthcare prices. The reason given that this act was passed is that it willl save billions of federal dollars each year. Many people against the act believe it should be repealed ,and the reason for this is, because it gives away healthcare to people who don't pay for it. The act also takes away from seniors who really need the medi,cade benefits, and also makes doctors increase how much people pay them. The Patient Protection and Affordable

Obamacare is an unofficial name for the Patient Protection and ACA (Affordable Care Act) which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010. The White House announced that in the first month, more than 100,000 Americans successfully enrolled in new insurance plans (The New America). That’s not even close to a quarter of the United States population. There have been problems with the website when it crashed. This prevented many Americans from completing the enrollment process. Which put a big hurt on the AC. But there is no question that there is a real demand for quality, affordable health insurance. In the first month, nearly a million people successfully completed an application for themselves or their families. An estimated amount 396,000 citizens have the ability to gain access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care

Recent health care reforms have already showed action in the health care industry, but there are a set of rules that will take effect January 1, 2014. The Affordable Care Act delivers better health security by providing a comprehensive health insurance

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

Public policy, such as subsidies in the form of tax credits for the purchase of health plans through the exchanges, have been in existence since the inception of the ACA, but one could contend that this falls short on many fronts. Subsidy thresholds and amounts are simply too low and premium costs too high for many middle-income earners to make ends meet. In some cases people would rather risk going without insurance and pay the penalty, than pay for a plan they can’t afford to use anyway (Bernard,

Rosenbaum, S. (2011, January-February). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice. US National Library of Medicine , pp.

Article: Sanger-katz, Margot, and Amanda Cox. "With New Health Law, Shopping Around Can Be Crucial." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/upshot/with-new-health-law-shopping-around-can-be-crucial.html?ref=policy&abt=0002&abg=0

It was stated earlier in this paper that big businesses would benefit from this law; however, the exact opposite is true for small businesses. Businesses will be forced to provide healthcare for their employees or pay a fine, something they may not be able to afford. This may result in employees’ hours being cut or even the termination of the employee (“ObamaCare”).

Obamacare will impose new health coverage costs, the employer mandate, compliance regulations, and new taxes on all businesses. Altogether, these constraints will dramatically affect companies’ per-employee costs, desire to provide health coverage, and motivation to grow in terms of both income and employment. Further Burdening Businesses. Obamacare is likely to exacerbate many of the concerns and costs that are already burdening businesses—particularly small-business owners—in at least four ways. 1.