Americas healthcare system needs reform, but not the sort of changes enacted under the new health care law. The Protection and Affordable Care Act which asserts federal control over healthcare benefits and financing.
As we all remember on March 23 2010, President Barrack Obama signed into law ate aten tectn and affordable care ac (ACA) commonly referred to Obamacare by far the most reputational verau of the American healthcare system ever enacted.
Obamacare will impose new health coverage costs ,the employer mandate, compliance regulations and new taxes on a businesss all together. Altogether these constraints will dramatically affect companies per employee costs, desire to provide health coverage, and motivation to grow in terms of but income and employment.
Further on 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 six ways:
1. Higher health care costs
As observed the obamacare does nothing to reduce healthcare costs and in return a wide variety of benefit and coverage mandate and new tax penalties increase the cost of providing coverage to e employers with less than 50 employees to drop health coverage .For employers offering coverage hey p o change their health plan t accommodate cost increase.Fr example some companies have restructured is coverage o exclude the working spouses f its employees.wic in return affects approximately 15000 of an annual savings f 60$ million.
2. Employers mandate
Employees with more than 50 full-time employees are mandates t provide healthcare else they face a penalty of 2000 per employee or 3000 per employee that receives a premium subsidy whichever the less.tis creates an incentive for businesses to avoid penalties and cost of coverage by hiring part time employees instead of fulltime employees, since business will be penalized for failing to provide health insurance to part-time employees. Not only does this affect a wide range of businesses but also hits low-income workers particularly hard.
The Obama administration has unilaterally delayed enforcement of the employer mandate for one year but a temporal delay is of little help because many employees already cut hours and will not chose o increase hours again.
4. Medicare taxes on flow through and investment income
Obama care increases the med-care payroll tax by 0.9 percent and establishes a new 3.8ecen med-care surtax on unearned income earners .This increased payroll tax in addition t wage and salary income applies to flow trough businesses income earned b small businesses.
As we now small businesses are major job creators and higher taxes on them will slow job creation. Moreover e wage threshold on is tax increase are not indexed to inflation and consequent will push more small business owners into the higher tax group as time goes on. The new surtax creates an even greater deterrence t investment an e ax applied previously.
5. Delay in SHOP exchange requirement
In the process of Obama care massive implementation and several pieces of the law have been delayed .One in particular is the Small Business Health Option (SHOP) exchange .Though the SHOP exchange held very little benefit , the Obama Administration has been postponing its most meaningful aspect ,the ability for employees to choose their health plans and premium aggregation which will wave unclear what advantage the SHOP exchange offers employees aside the small group market let alone disappointing those who have seen employee choice as a primary benefit of the SHOP exchange.
6. Higher regulation compliance costs
Small businesses do not have the capacity o easily take on additional administrative complexities .Many small companies will hire additional works and incur higher external accounting expenses to handle the enhanced compliance regulations on health insurance plans.
The protection and Affordable care Act makes dramatic changes in the countrys healthcare system especially in the Medicare that will affect American. Indeed much of the health laws in new spending is financed by spending reductions in the Medicare program. We view this in at least four ways
Medicares Future Still Unstable
Obamacaress changes in Medicare and thus impact on seniors must be viewed in the overall context of the Medicare program .Medicare faces a dire financial future, The Medicare part a trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2026, and under the most realistic scenario the entire program has a long term unfunded obligation of 36$trillion, This means that the Medicare will owe $36 trillion worth of benefits for which it currently does not have money to pay.
However, despite these enormous problems ,Obamacares Medicare saving s are not even reserved to enhance the solvency of the financially troubled program .Instead ,the money counted as paying for new spending on non-Medicare coverage expansions in Obamacare.
Rather than implementing the structural reform desperately needed Medicare, obamacares provisions threaten current seniors ability to access care and leave Medicare in jeopardy for future generations.
Higher Part D premiums
Obamacare gradually reduces seniors out of pocket costs in the Medicare Part D drug coverage gap ,commonly referred to as the donut hole ,until the gap is completely phased out in 2020 ,While is will the small number of seniors who face the gap ,it will increase the cost of the Part D benefit ,a portion of which will be passed to the beneficiaries.
According to CBO, enacting those cages would lead to an average increase in premiums for Part D beneficiaries of about 4 percent in 2011, rising to about 9 percent in 219.this average premium increase means a lot considering how few seniors actually fall into the gap .While the average premiums of al Part D beneficiaries will incase, of e 48.6 million Medicare enrollees in 2011, onl 3.6 million actually fell into the donut hole.
Less Access to Care
Obamacare mandates $716 billion in Medicare payment reductions from 2013 to 2022,however contrary to the way they are often portrayed these cuts are not aimed at specific instances of waste fraud and abuse ,Instead they across the board changes in Medicare payment formulas for a variety of Medicare provides ,including hospitals, nursing homes, health homes agencies and hospice agencies
Despite the political rhetoric that Medicare payment reductions affect nl providers and not beneficiaries, funding cuts for Medicare services will directly affect those w depend on those services .If obamacares major reductions are implemented b congress over the coming decades, seniors ability to access Medicare services will surely diminish .This means that seniors would have an increasingly difficult time accessing care.
Less Access to Physicians
Obamacare new powers t make additional cuts I Medicare through the Independent Advisor Board .if spending exceeds the target given the board is t make recommendations to the congress rein in spending .congress must exceed its recommendations o enact reforms wit equivalent savings.
One significant tools available to IPAB is to reduce Medicare spending is to cut physicians reimbursement rates ,The trustees pose that Medicare spending will exceed e target spending level for the first time in 2016,prompting IPAB to make its initial recommendations. Doctors are already leaving e Medicare program, likely due to eve increasing government regulations
With all this it is evident that the ObamaCare economic update has stated the different ways in which the citizens are not benefiting from it but instead pushing them far away from required benefits such as Healthcare. This turns us back to the leaders to ask for quick implementation of the Obamacare and make health a priority.
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