If you are a doctor, insurance company, or average Joe, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will surely affect you and is something Americans will have to deal with for the time being. Weather you are looking forward to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or not, when 2014 comes you better be prepared for major change.
How Will it Impact Doctors?
The focus will be in primary care. Financial incentives will only be offered to primary-care doctors. The medical facilities will be majorly pressured to keep practice cost effective. Funds have also been dedicated to healthcare innovation studies.
How Will it Impact Insurance Companies?
Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny citizens with pre-existing conditions. They won’t even be able to charge higher premiums. Lifetime limits will soon be banned and insurance companies must spend 80 % of premiums on all medical care. Expensive advertising campaigns and administrative costs will be affected as well. The good news for some is that the ACA will allow lower premiums for people.
How Will This Impact You?
It will not affect you if you already have health insurance. If you do not happen to have health insurance, you should probably get some. Without health insurance in 2014 you could incur a penalty. With that, if you buy insurance through a state exchange you could qualify for a federal subsidy. This may only happen if your income is less than 400 % of the federal poverty level or around $43,000 per year for singles. That makes it $92,000 for families.
It’s Good to Know: There Are Two Types of Subsidies
Premium Assistance Tax Credit:
These reduce the amount you pay for healthcare through tax credits. The amount is determined by a sliding scale based on income. This means some people will be getting more taken out of their pocket to pay for other peoples health insurance.
Cost-Sharing Assistance:
This subsidy lowers your out of pocket cap based on your income. The less you make, the more other people will be paying for your health insurance.
There is no question that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is controversial. Sadly, it is something that Americans will have to deal with for the time being. Be prepared for the changes with Brazelton Insurance Group.