Affordable Care/ Obamacare: How Does it work?

Have you wondered what is Obamacare? The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 also called Obamacare is a plan in the US. It aids patients to get more affordable healthcare. Many think that Obamacare only affects health insurance however it also applies to healthcare. The critics coined the term Obamacare when the former president Obama tried to reform healthcare in the US. However, many started to use the term so it became popular. 

Before this act, the insurance companies in the US used to exclude people with pre-existing health ailments. Because of this the people with low income were not able to make use of health insurance. Also, they were not able to cover the expenses of frequent doctor consultations so their health became worse. At last, they ended up in emergency rooms. So the ACA became a life saver for many people. You can find all about the affordable care act here.

Quick Key Facts about the act Obamacare/ Affordable Care

• The most important of Affordable Care Act fact is that the ACA has changed how healthcare gets delivered to the people. It assisted the hospitals, doctors, pharmacists to work together in beneficial ways. 
• Obamacare plans have improved the insurance plans and healthcare for the people. Because of the act, companies cannot drop people who get sick. 
• The ACA act is more beneficial to the Middle class than to the poor. These are the people who cannot pay for expensive health care treatments if they suffer from life threatening ailments.
• The major goal of the ACA is to decrease the cost of Medicare and Medicaid. 
• More than sixty per cent of the people in the US are eligible for it however they are not aware of it. 
• There are more than ten sections of health insurance covered in the ACA act.

How Does Affordable Care / Obamacare Works? 

The major goal of the Affordable care act is that it slows down the increasing cost of healthcare in the US. It has taken some important steps to provide affordable care health insurance to the people who need it. Moreover, the act also made everyone get health insurance otherwise they have to pay a tax penalty. 

The Obamacare insurance wants to make health insurance beneficial for people who go through life-threatening health situations. They may not be able to pay for the healthcare offered by the hospitals so this is where the Act comes into play. Furthermore, people with low incomes can use the advantages of Medicaid. But residents from 14 states elected not to expand Medicaid. Therefore, this limited the accessibility of the residents in these states. 

Then later the congress effectively removed the Obamacare tax penalty. This enabled patient with pre-existing conditions to benefit from healthcare. Also, it removed the healthier patients to give way for patients who really need health insurance. This resulted in increasing the cost of the insurance companies. 

Today the mandate of the Obamacare taxes is no longer applicable however there are still some taxes applied for people who make more than $200,000 a year and also for business owners. Eventhough congress cut some of the parts of Obamacare many can still benefit from the parts that work. Eventhough the opposing party tried for Obamacare repeal some parts of the ACA are strongly in place today. 

Main goals of Affordable Care / Obamacare? 

• The ACA aims to make healthcare affordable for people who find it difficult to manage the expense. As a first step, it offers premium tax credits for households with low income. 
• It aims to expand the Medicaid program for adults with income less than 138% of the federal poverty level. 
• The ACA offers its support to hospitals to find innovative healthcare methods that can lower the expense of healthcare for all. 

What does Obamacare cover?

Obamacare offers many essential benefits to people with low income. There are overall 10 categories of health insurance plans that come under Affordable Care Act. Some of the additions include the services offered by doctors, inpatient and outpatient care and more. 

Furthermore, some plans offer dental coverage for the children. But the services in the ACA may change according to the specific state’s requirements. A resident of the state has to see the plans offered in their state and compare the plans. 

Also read: All About State Continuation of Health Insurance

Pros and Cons of Affordable Care / Obamacare 

Let’s have a look at the Obamacare pros and cons. This will help a person to know if they want to choose Obamacare open enrolment. Also, they can know what to expect if they enrol for the plan.

The pros of ACA (Affordable Care Act)

• More number Americans can have and use their health insurance because of Obamacare. According to the stats, within the five years of ACA, more than 16 million Americans acquired health insurance coverage. Moreover, in this percentage, many were young adults who became newly insured people. 
• The ACA made health insurance more attainable and affordable for people. The Act made the insurance companies spend 80 per cent of insurance premiums for medical aids and developments. Also, it stopped the insurers to increase the rates. Insurance coverage was not free before the Act however because of the ACA the people can get lots of coverage options. 
• The Act has enabled people with pre-existing health conditions to get health insurance coverage. For instance, people suffering from cancer were sometimes denied health insurance before the ACA. But after the Act, many people were able to cover their healthcare expenses. 
• The ACA helped people with chronic health problem who have run out of insurance coverage. As the insurance companies set the time limit for the coverage it was hard for many people. Therefore because of ACA, the insurance companies were no longer able to set the limit. 
• The ACA can cover preventive services. This helped people to examine their body from time to time so they can prevent major health problems later in life.
• The ACA lessened the costs of prescription drugs so it was more affordable for people. 

The cons of ACA (Affordable Care Act)

• Many people tried to repeal Obamacare because of their higher premiums. This is because the people who already had health insurance had to pay more after the ACA. 
• According to ACA the people who do not have insurance have to pay a penalty. 
• The taxes went up because of the ACA. The people with high incomes had to pay more taxes because the ACA specially helped people with low incomes. Many people support it however some people do not prefer to pay more tax. According to many experts the ACA is a good plan because it can stabilise the insurance industry.  
• In the beginning, the ACA website suffered many delays. So people were not able to enrol before the allotted time.
• After ACA Many businesses tried to cut employee hours so they need not cover the insurance for them.

Biden administration on Affordable Care

The Biden administration is going to make the Affordable Care Act even stronger. On Thursday, January 28th Biden signed an executive order. This order opened the Affordable Care Act enrolment period from February 15 to May 15. Also, this exchange will serve 36 states. The main goal of this order is to boost the uninsured people. The states that have their own marketplaces have reopened the enrolment.

 It is still not clear how effective this order will be. Many are expecting instrumental changes in the ACA, Medicare, and public health. The Biden administration is again boosting the Affordable Care Act to benefit all. That is why many are going through the Affordable care act summary. 

Conclusion 

The Biden administration is bringing back the benefits of the Affordable care act. You can go through the affordable care act benefits summary to know more about it. If you are an eligible person to benefit from ACA, then become enrolled before the allotted time.

Also read: How to Find a Medigap Policy That Suits Your Needs