by Pamela Powers Hannley AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong reported that the highly profitable, multi-million-dollar company was forced to cut employee benefits because of increased insurance costs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the cost of care for two sick dependent children born to AOL employees. Armstrong (who made $12 million in 2012) said because … Read more
With full implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), January 2014 marks the beginning of a new era in health insurance in the US.
For the chronically uninsured and for those with pre-existing conditions, it's been a long and financially perilous wait for all of the ACA benefits to kick in.
For anti-government, conservative ideologues, the three-year waiting period gave them time to mercilessly attack reform that will provide insurance for millions of Americans, spread layers of misinformation about "Obamacare," hold dozens of meaningless repeal votes in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and hold the country hostage for 16 days in a multi-million-dollar government shutdown fiasco.
Today, December 23, 2013 is the cut-off date for enrollment in ACA insurance plans which begin January 1, 2014; the final deadline for ACA enrollment is March 31, 2014. Since the beginning of December, I have been shopping the healthcare marketplace on behalf of the ultra-small business that I work for–The American Journal of Medicine. On Friday, I submitted our final paperwork to our insurance broker.
This is the story of one small business' route to "affordable" care.
Our Journey
Our journey began long before the premier of Healthcare.gov, the much-maligned ACA enrollment website, and even before the ACA was signed into law in 2010. At the Journal, we had been unhappy with our health insurance plan through Aetna for years. Like clockwork, the cost went up 10-25% each year, forcing us to rethink coverage multiple times in order to live within our budget. We also were dissatisfied with the limited number of even more expensive alternative plans offered to us. The Journal's editorial pages have been pushing for Medicare for all for years and broke the stories about medical bankruptcy in 2009 and continued medical bankruptcy under Romneycare in Massachusetts in 2011. Consequently, we were ready for the public option back in 2009; today, we're just glad that the ACA made it through the Republican gauntlet and the Supreme Court. Unlike recent news stories about people and small businesses wanting to keep their existing healthcare plans, we were waiting with baited breath for three years to dump our plan.
The bottomline is that with Obamacare, the Journal — and the emplopyees– will pay less for healthcare insurance. Read about our ACA Marketplace experiences and lessons learned after the jump.
by Pamela Powers Hannley The Affordable Care Act (ACA) and healthcare reform, in general, will be the focus of PDA Tucson’s general membership meeting on Thursday, Nov. 14. Andrea Witte (the Connect the Dots Lady) will present the updated version of “The American Healthcare CrazyQuilt”, which looks at how the US healthcare system evolved into the … Read more
As the Republican Congressional circus continues, October 1– the federal budget deadline and the Affordable Care Act health exchange roll-out date– is fast approaching.
Teapublican Senatorial crusaders Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and others are spreading tons of misinformation about the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare).
To counter the misinformation, PolitiFact has provided this great list of facts– to counter the "pants-on-fire" lies.
1. The health care law rations care, like systems in Canada and Great Britain. False.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, July 2, 2012, in an interview on Fox News
The health care law is not socialized medicine. Instead, it leaves in place the private health care system that follows free market principles. The law does put more regulations on health insurance companies. It also fines most large employers who fail to provide insurance for their employees, and it requires all individuals to have health insurance. This is unlike the systems in either Britain or Canada. In Britain, doctors are employees of the government, while in Canada, the government pays most medical bills as part of a single-payer system. The U.S. health care law has neither of those features. PolitiFact has rated this claim and others like it False.
MoveOn.org members have launched petitions against 14 Democrats– including Arizona’s Congresswomen Kyrsten Sinema and Ann Kirkpatrick– for siding with Republicans in their vote to delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act from 2014 to 2015.
According to The Hill, these members were targeted with MoveOn.org petitions: Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) Scott Peters (D-Calif.), Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.), Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), Bill Enyart (D-Ill.), Bill Owens (D-N.Y.), Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.).
Video and more background after the jump.