A Summary of the Affordable Care Act

Since its earliest beginnings and before the very first draft was drawn up, there had been controversy over the Affordable Care Act. It was a bill that, if passed, would make health care readily available to the masses, but, of course, to some this wasn’t viewed as a good thing.

There had been speculation over the tax increases this would cause -- after all, someone’s got to pay for the free healthcare, right?

Nothing is Free 
We will go on ahead and start with that. The bill isn’t called the ‘Free Health Care Act’ so where people are getting the idea that certain individuals will just be getting free health care thanks to a tax increase is just crazy and unwarranted.

Sure, Medicare will still exist and there have been alterations made towards it, but Medicare is there for everyone; after all, that is why we pay into social security. Then, of course, we have Medicaid for our elderly, which, thanks to the health care bill, have been heavily altered, making things better for everyone.

Nothing is free -- the health care bill doesn’t just give everyone free healthcare. In fact, it just makes healthcare more readily available to the general public. It does this mainly by creating insurance exchanges all over the country and then enforcing the companies involved in them so as to prevent underhanded and shady tactics that some insurance companies practice.

For example, denying a diabetic health care because they know it will cost them is not going to happen anymore if the bill is properly enforced.

What the Bill Does Well
Since we just covered what it doesn’t do (hand out freebies), we can now talk about what it does do. In every way, this bill makes getting health care easier for the average Joe, who may be working at a fast food joint while in college.

 It does this through the previously mentioned exchanges which basically allow Joe to buy insurance coverage at a rather modest price.

Next, the bill greatly helps to promote businesses (small businesses, in particular) to offer health insurance to their employees. The bill does this by offering the discounted insurance prices and the more lucrative tax benefits, thus encouraging employers to do the right thing.

Not to mention the fact that health insurance does help to promote good health among employees and basically anyone who has insurance.

Simply put, the health care bill has brought a more affordable insurance option to the American public and, in doing so, has greatly helped to promote public well-being. For more information on the health care act, you can read the law here.

Affordable Care Act and How it Helps Women

Over the past weeks, we, at Linton and Associates, have done our best to break down the Affordable Health Care Bill that was passed by President Obama. We have explained various parts of it, including what we found to be important and things that many have told us they want to know more about.

Now though we are trying to break down this complex health care bill even further, including some new benefits for women. 

There are some important new benefits that you should all be sure to take advantage of, such as eight free health services available by healthcare providers as of August 1^st 2012.

Taking Advantage of Proactive Health Care Features

These health care services are provided by medical professionals all over are now available to you the people free of charge as a way to be more proactive about one’s health and minimize or even stop the risk of certain diseases or conditions:

·         Well-Woman: Think of this as your free annual health check. Doctors will check you over for signs of ill health, consult and talk with you, and even offer advice. Not to mention that if it looks like you should visit multiple times a year, which can be arranged at the doctor’s discretion.

·         Gestational Diabetes Screening: This is an important one as it concerns pregnant women. Essentially, the testing will be to determine if you are at risk of developing gestational diabetes. You and your child are at extreme risks of developing a type of diabetes, but this test can help those risks be identified early on.

·         HPV Screenings: Women over 30 will have access to these screenings every three years. Even if your pap smear comes back clean, you will still have access to the screenings; which could potentially save you from cervical cancer.

·         STI Counseling: Basically, for the more sexually active women out there, it’s not a bad thing. Scientifically, the sexually active live healthier and happier lives and, with the help of STI counseling, women can be made aware of newly discovered sexually transmitted infections.

·         HIV Screening and Counseling: You can get tested for HIV and, if you do have it, counseling can be made available to help with coping.

·         Contraception and Contraceptive Counseling: This is also available to women, but abortion drugs will not be made available for free.

·         Support for Breast Feeding Women: This service includes supplies and counseling. This helps to make the lives of new parents a little easier while keeping them better informed on important matters related to this type of care for newborns.

·         Domestic Violence Counseling: This counseling will be made available to women who might be at risk or have endured domestic or interpersonal violence.

Thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act, these eight services are now available to women everywhere, helping make their lives a little easier. It is not just women though; many great services that were previously unattainable to some are now available to all. 

Linton and Associates proudly endorses the Affordable Care Act and hopes that women, seniors, and everyone else will take advantage of these free, proactive health screenings, counseling, and services.

ACA Benefits the Elderly: How the Health Care Reform Act is Helping Our Senior Citizens

In the past 200 years, life expectancy in America has pretty much doubled. People used to live to 50 if they were lucky and now we have 100 year old men. 

The fact that we can grow old enough to see our grandkids all grown up now is often contributed to science and health advances. Another thing that adds to this is great healthcare America has to offer in social security and of course prescription drugs and nursing homes.

Of course, not everything is all and well for our seniors. Before the Affordable Care Act was passed, many retirees would struggle to receive proper health care and prescriptions not to mention that not all nursing homes are created equal. With grandpa working everyday for 60 years, he very much deserves better.

There is good news though. With the Affordable Care Act, things only seem to be looking up for the elderly. This can be seen with the two common types of health insurance used by senior citizens – Medicare and Medicaid.

Medicare is essentially a private, more upscale insurance provider, and Medicaid is essentially a government assistance program. 

With the Affordable Care Act in play, both of these programs will see vast improvements. In addition, the overall health and living of our senior citizens is also expected to improve thanks to a few specific features of the bill. 

Improvements to Their Lives

We all care about grandma and grandpa and with recent polls suggesting that one if not both of a married elderly couple is 50% expected to make it to the age 95, it is quite a relief to know they will be here awhile. 

However, with age comes new responsibilities and as the old get older it tends to be harder for them to take care of themselves let alone the big house they live in.

Thankfully, there are a few options, including such solutions as live-in care providers. Like their title suggests, they provide care to the elderly at their home. 

Another option is nursing style homes and retirement centers -- something many insurance companies have covered in the past, but with the new health care b ill they now are required to provide more information amongst other things to help you be sure that grandpa gets the care he deserves.

Other benefits to our elderly are the drastic decreases in price for prescription medication -- something that we believe to be long overdue. It is a relief to know that they can get the medication they need at a reasonable price. All this and more can be attributed t the Affordable Health Care Act, which is long overdue in this country.

Helping Protect Our Kids: How the Affordable Health Care Act Looks Out for Our Future

In the month of August, we offered a series of blogs explaining some of the more ‘need to know’ features of the Affordable Health Care Act. 

This month, we are going to continue on by further explaining certain topics and shedding some light on some of the newer topics concerning the bill. So, without further ado Linton and Associates proudly presents to you the Affordable Health Care Act unveiled.

There have been naysayers and supporters from its conception -- some complaining that the Government has their noses in places it doesn’t belong.  Others feel that it is for the common good that healthcare is made available to everyone and not just those with a good career or masses of money.

One thing though that those against and those in support can agree on is that having our children on our healthcare plans until they turn 26 is good for everyone.

Our Youth are Our Future

It’s been said so many times that it is almost cliché, but it is true. Their beliefs and what they support or do not support is this country’s inevitable future. And, with the Affordable Health Care Act allowing children to stay on their parent’s insurance until the age of 26.

The country as a whole is supporting them in a great way. Many of our children are still in college (hopefully finishing) at 26 and would not have the money for healthcare or a job that offers it. So, when our insurance used to stop covering them prior to this new requirement, it was challenging for this age group to get proper health care. 

However, with this mandate in the bill, it will allow our children, our future; to be better prepared to fight the good fight.

Whether you supported the bill or found it to be an invasion of privacy, one thing is for sure. If you have kids, you are going to see the benefits of the bill. Many people have kids, and it is great that they can stay healthy longer.

With the bill in play, they will have a better chance at finding a career where their employer includes medical coverage in their benefits package. This is because the new tax credits offer discounts to employers that provide medical insurance.

As such, it is expected that there will be a spike in the number of companies that have medical benefits so that graduates can migrate from their parent’s health insurance to the one provided by their employer.

How Kids will be Impacted by Affordable Health Care Act

Over the past few weeks, we have discussed the Affordable Health Care Act and tried to break away from the media’s normal approach of either praising or criticizing, aiming instead for a balanced approach that presents all sides and ways that businesses and people will be affected.

In the fourth part of our series, we are going to talk about something that has undoubtedly been on everyone’s minds, as it has been on ours too. How will this Affordable Health Care Act affect our children?

Good for the Children

Whether you hate it or love it, if you have kids, then you are going to love this. One of the main things there have been outcries over with the Affordable Health Care Act has been the health care tax that will be implemented come 2014. When that time comes, if you don’t have health insurance, then you will have to pay a tax that will increase significantly over the course of two years.

Many people must be thinking how unfair that is to our youth that our struggling to get by in this economy, well apparently so were big men in charge when they wrote the bill. 

Parents everywhere should rejoice for your health insurance will now cover your children until they are 26 years old.

This extra time is perfect for your child to get a job that offers its own health benefits and to stay insured while they go through college or trade school. 

Also, when you take into account that the bill is encouraging and enticing employers with major tax incentives to offer healthcare to their employees, one can be reassured at how easy it will be for little Jonny to get himself insured.

Other Benefits of the Bill

Your children can now be covered under your employer’s health insurance benefits as long as you employed. The government is issuing very nice tax benefits to companies that take on or already offer health insurance to their employees.

It is now easier than ever to get health insurance through a variety of processes. There are various government aid programs that are perfect for the struggling student or young person that falls out of the 26-year old age bracket and, of course, many other families will qualify. Prescription prices are dropping dramatically, also making things easier on people of all ages.

So, whether you like it or not, the bill is here and the changes are being made every day. Nothing is perfect, but it could always be worse. 

With the Affordable Health Care Act passed, millions of Americans, including their children, will be able to enjoy healthcare when they didn’t even dream of affording it before.

Is Health Insurance Required?

In previous blog posts, we covered topics related to the new health care reform bill, including whether or not it would save you money or what it really involved in terms of requirements. Now, we are going to delve deeper into a subject that is on a lot of people’s minds. And, that question is: “Is having health insurance an absolute requirement?”

Some argue that it is, in fact, required, but technically it is not. In this week’s blog, we are going to attempt to clarify some of the uncertainty around this aspect of the new health care bill. 

Technically, you are not required to have a health insurance, but, as of 2014, all persons who do not have health insurance will receive a fine in the form of a tax.

This means that, while no one can force you to get health insurance, but they can heavily influence your decision by introducing what could be described as a sanction for not getting health insurance.

The Facts

The health care reform bill is in play and it’s already delivering some key changes. Because of the reform, children are going to be covered by their parent’s plans until they are 26 years old. This is a good thing for a couple of reasons.

First, it allows them to either be well enough on their own that they can afford insurance or have a job that offers insurance benefits by that time. Second, the bill makes getting insurance easier for many people and puts a tax on those whose household incomes that are over $250,000 a year.

Come 2014, those who choose not to have insurance whether through the many assistance programs that many will be eligible through their jobs or opting to purchase it on their own will be taxed. This tax will increase over a two-year period in which the fee will then become stagnate.

How do you avoid the tax and is it really that much easier to get healthcare? Through newly implemented ‘exchanges,’ you can easily purchase a health insurance plan.

Many individuals from impoverished families to the elderly are eligible for government underwritten healthcare, which makes attaining it that much easier.  Due to newly implemented tax benefits and laws, it is in the best interest of businesses to offer health insurance. All of these reasons and more show just how easy this reform will make attaining health insurance.

The Benefits to All

While some are against this particular type of health care reform, some are for it and others have just ignored it; the fact is that health care reform is here and that is all there is to it.

Before the reform, there were many that had no way of getting health insurance. Now, with the ‘exchanges,’ the incentive for business, along with the government’s assistance, it is much easier for the majority to have their health care needs better served.

Next week, we’ll have the last in our series about our opinions on health care reform and what it means for businesses and health insurance benefits. 

Save More with the New Healthcare Bill

Families everywhere shell out for health insurance, whether by paying a percentage while their employer covers the rest or by paying for it all on their own. Many families pay thousands of dollars every year for health insurance.

Other families though cannot afford health insurance and are stuck working a low income often classified as a ‘part time’ job so their employers can get around offering health insurance coverage. 

With the new healthcare bill passed, come 2014, many things will change that can and will benefit the people as whole for this bill does not cater to the individual but the nation’s population.

An Overview

We have talked about a few of the changes over the past couple of weeks, so after a quick refresher we are going to dive right into the question that is on everyone’s minds. ‘How will this save me money?’

Now that the healthcare bill has passed, high income households will pay a higher tax, which will do a couple things. It will help to cover lower income households that could not otherwise have insurance and, over the course of years, it is speculated that the tax will get our country out of its current economic crisis.

Come 2014, there will be a fine that will gradually increase till 2016 in which it will then be capped off. The fine is for those that refuse to get healthcare, but with all of the new benefits that come with the healthcare bill, those numbers will be few.

How the Bill will Save You Money

From the start, people’s concern has always been about the money, so we are here to break it down for you and ultimately tell you how things will save you money. For starters, insurance companies can no longer cap what they spend on your health coverage over a lifetime. Basically, there are no more ‘it’s too much’ spiels.

Secondly, individuals with pre-existing conditions will receive coverage. After all, you can’t control that you have diabetes. Another benefit is that insurance companies can no longer just drop your coverage; they have to stick with it and help with the bills.

Children will be covered until the age 26 under their parent’s plan (this is already in place) while low income households will receive care and seniors will receive discounts on prescription drugs as well as other healthcare services. 

While the higher income families will have to pay a tax, the fees are not higher than the bronze plan of insurance and, in the end, this gives more families access to the healthcare they deserve and need.

Be sure to check back with us in the future when we will provide further updates on the ongoing changes to the healthcare system.