About the Affordable Care Act. The Internal Revenue Service IRS is responsible for tax provisions of the current law that will be implemented during the next several years. A list of these provisions now in effect, and additional information soon to be added, can be found at www. Detailed technical and regulatory information on the health care law can be found at cciio. Below we highlight what we have learned from our studies of the ACA to date as implementation continues to unfold.
Despite its goal of universal health coverage, the ACA leaves substantial numbers of Americans without access to insurance. More than three years after the law's enactment, enrollment in the online Marketplaces began in October Notwithstanding widely reported problems with the rollout of the Marketplace websites, sizable numbers of previously uninsured people were able to obtain coverage over the first and second enrollment periods.
Analysis of survey data about Americans' health insurance enrollment from October to April showed that The total number of uninsured Americans dropped from Much of this increase was driven by gains in employer-sponsored coverage. Among those newly insured, 9.
The study also estimated that One of the reasons why people are signing up is the individual mandate. After the law was enacted, the Supreme Court took up a legal challenge to the individual mandate. The plaintiffs sued to have the individual mandate voided as unconstitutional. In the run-up to the court decision, RAND analyzed the likely effect of eliminating the individual mandate and found that without it, an estimated 12 million people who would otherwise sign up for coverage would be uninsured.
The analysis found that eliminating the individual mandate would cause the number of people enrolled in the individual exchanges to fall by more than 20 percent.
During the early enrollment period, debate erupted over the enrollment of young adults in the individual exchanges. Some news stories and commentators maintained that unless roughly 40 percent of enrollees in the individual exchanges were young adults — between ages 18 and 34 — then the costs associated with older, less healthy adults would lead to higher premiums and ultimately destabilize these markets.
At the end of the first open enrollment period in March , enrollment figures from the U. Department of Health and Human Services showed that 28 percent of enrollees were between the ages of , while 48 percent were 45 or older. In addition, the spending data used as input to COMPARE suggest that, for most enrollees of all ages, premium payments exceed health care spending. To encourage enrollment in the new individual insurance exchanges, the ACA offers tax credits to help lower-income individuals and families buy coverage.
Some economists, however, predict that in the long term, the ACA will help reduce the deficit and may eventually have a positive impact on the budget. The ACA website had a lot of technical problems when it was first launched. This made it difficult for people to enroll and led to delays and lower-than-expected signups.
The website problems were eventually fixed, but many consumers have complained that signing up for the right family or business coverage can be tricky.
In recent years, the enrollment period has also been shortened to between November 1 and December Many hospitals and public health agencies have set up programs to help guide consumers and business owners through the setup process.
The ACA website also has sections devoted to explaining the procedures and available options. Opponents of Obamacare claimed the legislation would destroy jobs. The number of full-time jobs has gone up in recent years, but there are still reports of businesses cutting hours from employee schedules. Business with 50 or more full-time employees must offer insurance or make payments to cover healthcare expenses for employees.
By reducing hours, businesses are able to get by the hour-per-week definition of a full-time employee. The ACA is subject to changes every year. Changes in the healthcare field, along with changes to the political makeup of future presidential administrations and Congress, make it likely that the ACA will continue to change for years to come.
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We explain everything you need to know about available providers, original…. The ACA also invested in other improvements for the Medicare program by establishing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation , which is responsible for developing ways to improve patient care and lower health care costs.
Prior to the ACA, people would be functionally uninsured after hitting arbitrary annual or lifetime coverage limits. The ACA prohibits insurers from setting coverage limits, as well as from denying coverage or raising prices for preexisting conditions.
Medicaid expansion has helped many disabled people and caregivers access care based on their income status. Not all disabled people qualify for the traditional Medicaid disability pathway. Medicaid expansion allows disabled people to join the workforce without jeopardizing their Medicaid benefits and gives low-income workers a fallback option for coverage if they lose access to employer-sponsored insurance.
Essential health benefits help disabled people access necessary services. Prior to the ACA, 45 percent of individual market plans did not cover SUD services and 38 percent did not cover mental health care.
Following ACA implementation, people with mental health conditions became significantly less likely to report unmet need due to cost of mental health care. The ACA has helped millions of Americans gain insurance coverage, saved thousands of lives, and strengthened the health care system.
The law has been life-changing for people who were previously uninsured, have lower incomes, or have preexisting conditions, among other groups. Emily Gee is the health economist of Health Policy at the Center. Maura Calsyn is the managing director of Health Policy at the Center.
Emily Gee. Topher Spiro , Emily Gee. Colin Seeberger Director, Media Relations. Peter Gordon Director, Government Affairs. Madeline Shepherd Director, Government Affairs. Insurance companies would no longer be required to issue rebates when they overcharge Americans. The ACA protects people with preexisting conditions from discrimination Prior to the ACA, insurers in the individual market routinely set pricing and benefit exclusions and denied coverage to people based on their health status, a practice known as medical underwriting.
Medicaid expansion helped millions of lower-income individuals access health care and more To date, 36 states and Washington, D. Medicaid expansion was associated with 19, fewer deaths among older low-income adults from to ; 15, preventable deaths occurred in states that did not expand Medicaid.
Rural communities have benefited from the ACA Medicaid expansion is particularly important for coverage and the sustainability of the health care system in rural areas. Conclusion The ACA has helped millions of Americans gain insurance coverage, saved thousands of lives, and strengthened the health care system.
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