We all understand the importance of maintaining good health, even if we do not always practice the correct lifestyle choices that it takes to be healthy. With that said, most people place a lot of value on being employed with a business that offers them full or at least partial medical benefits. In 2010, the United States healthcare system underwent the largest overhaul since the inception of Medicaid and Medicare just four decades earlier.

The Affordable Care Act, ACA, or most commonly known as Obamacare, aimed to make healthcare more widely accessible for all people, regardless of pre-­existing health conditions or gender. Partisans on both sides of the issue have heavily debated the merits of the ACA since its implementation, but we will not do that here. Your Dallas, Houston, South Texas, and Lewisville staffing agency is here to provide you with an overview of this piece of legislation and how it pertains to your company. You can read the specific articles of the ACA here.

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT’s MAIN OBJECTIVES

The content presented in this article is not exhaustive of all the ACA has to offer, but we will tackle the main components of the legislation such as:

1. Increased eligibility. The bill filled in gaps in health care coverage across the nation by creating a minimum Medicaid income level.
2. Reduced costs. The bill slashed premium and out-­of-­pocket costs for millions of families and small business owners who did fall within the pricing coverage spectrum in the past. Over 30 million more Americans can now afford healthcare.
3. Prioritized equality. In the past, insurance providers could discriminate against you due to age, pre-­‐existing health conditions or gender.
4. Stabilized our economy. The ACA will reduce our national deficit by 100 billion over the next ten years by cutting down government overspending.

 
Under the ACA, most employers, especially those with fifty employees or more, are faced with a greater responsibility to provide health benefits. The majority of the legislation’s mandates affected companies that did not offer benefits at all. The employers mandated decrees that at least 90 percent of all full-­time employees must be offered health insurance or be subjected to penalties, which you can read more about here.

EXAMPLES

Your Dallas, Houston, South Texas and Lewisville staffing agency, Staff Force, will outline how the ACA implementation affected our own healthcare policy. Staff Force will now:Provide a Minimal Essential Coverage Plan and a Fixed Indemnity

1. Plan with 1st dollar coverage.
2. Protect our clients by providing ACA compliant coverage and absorbing penalties that our clients may receive.

 
There is additional content regarding the ACA that we did not cover here. However, this article along with the links provided should give you a solid foundation in the ongoing mission of providing affordable healthcare for all citizens.