Whether you are insured or uninsured, the Affordable Healthcare Act will change the way in which you access healthcare. For some, your circumstance will improve as you gain access to a system that prevented your participation due to pre-existing conditions. For others, you may end up being laid off from an employer or worse yet, if you own a business, you may find it difficult to keep your doors open altogether. The point here is not to paint a picture of doom and gloom, but to reveal that everyone will have a price to pay for healthcare reform.
The Insured
Plan for your employer to gradually shift some of the health care costs to you in order to maintain profitability. For example, you will most likely notice an increase in the amount you pay for doctor visits. The sheer volume of usage in the medical community is going to drive up costs, which means that insurance companies will pass on that cost to employers, and ultimately to you.
On the surface, these group health insurance plans may look better because they come with low premiums, but have higher deductibles and co-payments for doctor’s visits. Currently, workers are are typically asked to pay the first $3,000 to $5,000 of each year’s medical expenses themselves. Undoubtedly, these figures will increase. Another cost cutting strategy, which in this instance is a win-win approach, is to offer incentives for the employees who take preventative measures such as offering weight loss and healthy living classes to cut healthcare costs.
The biggest concern regarding health care reform is that your employer may have to get rid of their benefits package altogether. With healthcare costs going up, you may be caught bearing the entire financial burden of medical care for your family. If you work for an employer who has less than 50 employees, they are not obligated to provide healthcare for you. While this is true, it’s probably not worth overreacting because your boss probably offers you benefits because they want to compete with other companies to prevent them from stealing your talents.
The Uninsured
You are primarily the focal point of health care reform. Whether you have a preexisting condition or live significantly below the poverty line, you officially receive access to medical care starting in January 2014. For those of you who are sick, but live above the poverty line you will have to pay for care, but theoretically your costs will not be more expensive than everybody else’s.
Within this larger group of uninsured individuals, there is a subgroup of folks who have no desire to have any coverage at all. According to the federal Health and Human Services Department, one of those groups is the “Healthy & Young,” comprising nearly half (48 percent) of the uninsured. The other group is classified as the “Passive & Unengaged” (15 percent). The federal government has incentives for you to enroll in programs because you help keep costs down. You help insurance companies lower costs for everyone else when you make a monthly payment for insurance that you do not use. Insurance companies use those funds to pay for services other sick people will have to use much more regularly.
As a country, we tend not to worry or take preventative measures regarding the unknown because we do not forecast how we will be affected. Groups who have a higher price to pay, both literally and figuratively, will begin to feel the difference in 2014. Over the next few years, the national conversation about healthcare reform will get louder as we see its implementation and feel our pocketbooks get a little thinner. Short term health insurance will often be the solution uninsureds turn to…
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