Compared to the past decades, healthcare has technologically advanced, but remains more expensive than in the past days. In the United States of America, Healthcare cost the government $2.6 billion in 2010 (Eibner, et al. 2013). The amount of money spent on health care has increased more than the overall economy has grown. Healthcare is paid for by government institutions/programs, private health insurance plans by employers, and person’s own money (out-of-pocket). Through the Affordable Care Act, the government provides a better health security to its citizens. Over the years, there has been a steady rise in cost for the provision of coverage making it less affordable to the employers.
Provision of Affordable Care Act has changed this by incentivizing the employer funded benefits (Tate, 2012). The Act enacts comprehensive health insurance reforms that play a crucial role in expanding coverage, reduce health care costs, holding the insurance companies accountable, and guaranteeing a quality healthcare. Health insurance is not only necessary for patients, but it is also as well essential for the health individuals: it provides preventive services to help for long lives. Businesses and organizations with fifty employees or less should enroll for small business health options program plans for their employees. My organization assigns me to purchase health insurance for our fifty full-time workers. As the person in charge, my task is to determine the best plan to be adopted.
High deductibles with an HSA outweigh the perks with lower deductibles. An advantage of this plan is that it’s flexible as it qualifies for all cost assistance types. Even if my employees are not eligible for cost assistance, the marketplace plan allows us to claim the tax credit if that changes throughout the year. Despite this strong point of the plan, a major drawback is that they have narrow networks. A wider network would rather have higher premiums (Maxwell, 2012). The HSA silver plans come various shapes and sizes. We are entitled to choose the right option for our employees’ medical needs. Considering the financial strength our company and the medical needs we require, Silver Plan thus remains the best plan inside and outside the marketplace.
According to Maxwell (2012), the Affordable Care Act provides health insurance reforms that include the provision of taxes affecting individuals, businesses, insurers, the tax-exempt organizations as well as government institutions. The provisions of the policy embrace crucial changes including how companies, persons or any other affected party should file their taxes. The Act also spells the benefits that an employer should grant their workers.
Provision of Health Insurance to our employees means a lot to us. First, it’s an obligation of the government, second, it is one of our human resource practices. The benefit has pros and cons as the annual report shows (Jones, 2013). Advantages of providing coverage to employees are vivid: the package helps attract and retain our esteemed employees that improve the success of the company. The company also gets the opportunity for tax advantage of deduction plan contributions. The employees accept better benefits instead of a higher salary that tends to be savings to the company. It’s profitable to the firm owner as they get personal benefits for less money that if they were purchasing them privately. Finally, coverage is likened to reduce absenteeism and improvement of morale at the workplace. Employees seek preventative care and live healthy lives as well.
Provision of Health insurance to our staff yields negative outcomes as well to us as a company: due to high administrative costs, our small business has less choice in designing a proper retirement scheme (Emanuel, 2015). The provision costs are very expensive due to our little buying power. Offering the benefit creates concern regarding legal compliance that in turn causes the organization to incur legal fees. When a mistake is made in this benefits plan, costly lawsuits, and regulatory fines must be paid by the company, a blow that negatively affects the company.
In conclusion, The Affordable Care Act has impacted into a better health insurance coverage in all dimensions. This means that employers who comply with the law find themselves on the safe side of the game (Eibner, et al. 2013). Choosing the right plan is the secret to friendly terms and conditions with the law as well. Only the favorable factors help one select the best plan for a variety of plans in the marketplace. As seen, the pros of the plan outweigh the cons meaning that there is Excellency in this provision.
References
Eibner, C., Cordova, A., Nowak, S. A., Price, C. C., & Saltzman, E. (2013). The Affordable Care Act and Health Insurance Markets: Simulating the Effects of Regulation. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation.
Emanuel, E. J. (2015). Reinventing American health care: How the Affordable Care Act will improve our terribly complex, blatantly unjust, outrageously expensive, grossly inefficient, error prone system.
Jones, D. A. (2013). The simple reader's guide to understanding the affordable care act (ACA) health care reform. Bloomington, IN: Abbott Press.
Maxwell, N. L. (2012). The health and wealth of a nation: Employer-based health insurance and the affordable care act. Kalamazoo, Mich: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Tate, N. J. (2012). ObamaCare survival guide. West Palm Beach, FL: Humanix Books.
