ARTICLE REVIEW

Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform

Summary

The article reports on the impact of the health care reform legislation enacted in March 2010 in the U.S. on the health care system and in the tax practices and payments of employers. It states that, by 2014, employers will face critical decisions on how much health coverage to offer or even whether to offer coverage at all. It adds that to avoid problems employers should be diligent in learning about and responding to a range of tax-related changes brought by the health care reform legislation (Sammer, 2010).

According to this article, President Obama signed the health and education Reconciliation Act, the March 30, 2010. As a result, a large number of health-related provisions will take effect during the course of the next four years. This includes, expanded Medicaid eligibility for the subsidy of insurance premiums that are designed to give businesses incentives to provide health care insurance coverage for their employees. It also includes the prohibition of the denial of health coverage and property due to preexisting conditions, and the creation of pockets of health insurance and medical research support (McDonough, 2011). Health and Education Reconciliation Act makes several changes to the patient and affordable protection law that was enacted on March 23, 2010 by President Obama. Some of the changes include:

An increase in tax credits for people who purchase health insurance

Reducing the penalty for not buying insurance U.S. $ U.S. 750 to $ 695

Closure of the Medicare Part D “donut” hole for 2011 leading to the elderly in the United States receives U.S. $ 250 a rebate.

Doctors who treat Medicare patients will be reimbursed at the fixed rate

Taxation of plans "Cadillac health care" will be delayed until 2018

Low-income groups will be offered more generous benefits than before, example, households below 150% of the federal poverty level would pay the 2% to $ 4 of their income on health insurance premiums and health plans cover 94% of the costs of benefits. Households with incomes between 150% to 400% of the federal poverty level (a household of a family of four with an income of U.S. $ 88,200) who pay premiums health insurance on a sliding scale at a rate of 4% to 9.8% of their income.

Extension of the ban on the limits of life and termination of coverage to all health insurance plans available within six (6) months after the signing health reform legislation into law.

The article says that the United States Congressional Budget Office estimates that as many patient protection and affordable health law and education Reconciliation Act of 2010 will have the net effect of reducing the deficit by approximately U.S. $ 143 billion U.S. during the first decade (Sammer, 2010). Despite the social advances and economies made possible by the reform, it has not been well received, and it is with great concessions it was finally passed.

A first explanation is cultural: the average American has a great distrust of public systems and state interventions. The residents of the New World instinctively associate the ...