Essay on "Oral Presentation: The Individual Mandate"

Essay 3 pages (1071 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Furthermore, many healthy young people may be exempt because of the 'hardship clause' of the ACA: "the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that Americans who have had their plans canceled will be exempt from enrolling in the exchanges, because some consumers were finding other coverage options to be more expensive than their cancelled plans or policies" (Roy, 2013, Utter chaos). There is also a hardship exemption for individuals whose spending on a premium would exceed a certain percentage of their salaries. "This new hardship exemption will encourage healthier individuals, whose expected spending would be low, to drop out of the pool. As a result, average spending per enrollee on the exchanges is likely to be substantially higher than the insurers had planned for, forcing them to lose money on their policies" and to raise the cost of health insurance for all (Roy, 2013, Utter chaos).

This is significant for corporations given that they must be mindful of escalating healthcare costs. It should also be noted under the law that larger organizations are required to provide coverage for their employees: "Employers with over 50 employees that do not provide insurance must pay a penalty of $2,000 for every employee in the company if even one employee opts to obtain insurance through an exchange" (Health care reform, 2014, Monster). Also, "employers with more than 50 employees that do provide insurance must pay a penalty if any of their employees obtain a subsidy to help pay for insurance" (Health care reform, 2014, Monster). Providing well-structured health insurance programs is a necessity for employers to ensure legal compliance. It is possible the ACA would help employers who currently offer employees health insurance by expanding the number of healthy as well as sick individuals in the risk pool which should reduce costs but again that prospect is controversial.

The individual mandate was the most debated aspects of Obamacare and its effects are thus the most ambiguous: on one hand, it is supposed to curtail the costs of healthcare for all by bringing in young people into the health insurance market. For organizations that currently provide health insurance to their employees, this would theoretically reduce costs as would forcing more employers to ensure their employees, further expanding the risk pool. However, young people may opt out of expensive healthcare and simply pay the penalty or get a hardship exemption (which is easy to obtain). Moreover, since employers cannot discriminate based upon preexisting conditions, more sick rather than healthy people might end up being insured as a result of Obamacare, driving costs up. This ambiguity is why further research is needed.

References

Health care reform. (2014). Monster. Retrieved from:

http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/workforce-management/employee-benefits-management/health-care-reform.aspx

Kagan, P. (2014). Dear young people: Please sign up for health insurance. Retrieved from:

U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/01/24/why-young-people-should-sign-up-for-obamacare

Pear, R. (2014). 3.3 million enrolled on health marketplaces, including more young people, government says. The New York Times. Retrieved from:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/us/3-3-million-enrolled-in-health-care-marketplaces-more-young-people-signing-up.html?_r=0

Roy, A. (2013). Double down Obamacare. Forbes. Retrieved from:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/09/25/double-down-obamacare-will-increase-avg-individual-market-insurance-premiums-by-99-for-men-62-for-women/

Roy, A. (2013). Utter chaos. Forbes. Retrieved from:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/12/20/utter-chaos-white-house-exempts-millions-from-obamacares-insurance-mandate-unaffordable-exchanges/ READ MORE

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