Opportunity for all

I scored a 9 out of 10  which seems to say I know a fair amount about the act. During the hype about the act and the shutdown i took some time to read a few articles about the act and clear up some of the myths that were associated with the act. One thing I didn’t know about the bill was that small business and individuals could receive subsidies on insurance plans.

ObamaCare creates new entities in every state through which individuals buying insurance on their own must purchase their government-approved insurance. The Exchange Subsidy is influenced by a family’s income. Households with incomes below 400 percent and above 133

Reinsurance Program Fair for Employers

This past summer I worked for Cigna, which a major multinational health insurance provider. Obviously, the Affordable Care Act is major topic of discussion there and I had become pretty well versed with the Act over the course of the summer I spent there. So I was not surprised when I got a 10/10 on the quiz, which only covered the main points of Act.  Though, I did not know about many of the more obscure points of it.  One aspect that I did not know anything about was the reinsurance program that was established with the Act.

Reinsurance is typically insurance bought by insurance companies from other insurance companies as a way to hedge risk on some of the policies that they hold. The reinsurance program that is established by the Affordable Care Act is for employers already providing health benefits to its retirees over the age of 55 who are not eligible for Medicare.  It is a temporary program that will provide employers reimbursement of 80% of claims between $15,000 and $90,000. The purpose of this program is to lower the costs of the employees registering in their employer’s health care plan.  A total of $5 billion is to be put into the program and will be effective until January 1, 2014.

Regardless of my own political opinions on the Affordable Care Act as a whole, I think that this is a beneficial aspect of the bill.  A fair amount of burden is put on employers to provide care to its employees and if they are already providing benefits to retirees, it seems reasonable to give them some assistance during the transition phase of the enactment of the bill.  As far as a “Mandingo” or “Broomhilda” for the Affordable Care Act, I do not think that there is really either for the Act. Mainly because I think that the objective of the bill is straightforward and it would be almost impossible to try to put a “Broomhilda” into the Act because it is so widely scrutinized.

Tax on Medical Devices

By taking this quiz I truly realized how little I know about the PPACA. Although I did score a 4/10, to be fair I would have to call all of my answers guesses. I find it quite amazing how little I know about one of the top, if not the single most common subject mentioned in the news. Now, I do take some responsibility for this, but I do not think it lies solely with me. We have talked all semester about the best way to present information for your audience, and it is clear that the government did not do an extensive job presenting this piece of legislation. Perhaps when something so relevant comes into law the government (like the PPACA) should go to extra lengths to ensure that the public is well informed to its purpose, or supposed purpose.

Blog Post 7 (Affordable Care Act)

In March 2010, over three years ago today, Obama and his administration passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as “Obamacare.” Even the name has been a political football with Obama at first not wanting it labeled with his name as Republicans were doing,  and then embracing it.  This has been a topic that has swirled in our newsfeeds and is frequently a topic of conversation. Yet, much of the general public does not know the details or even the major facts of the act.   In fact, the Democratic party has been proposing some form of national health insurance since at least President Truman.

However, it seems the government, politicians, and the media have not done a great job explaining this law.

TAKE THIS QUIZ... post your answer below.  Th BC would be surprised in you get 2-3 right.

For this week, we invite you to learn more about the act, which, in reality, has many, many parts.   Write about one specific provision or aspect of the PPACA law.  Use  good resources about the PPACA explore one aspect of the act that you had not previously known about.  Your goal is to explain what it does in specific terms.

This post links into doing paper 2 and the final paper in terms of information literacy.  To explain your provision, you may find government sites, news coverage, research centers, or think tanks are useful.

We invite you to learn about it it “before’ you put on your own political lenses.  Does the provision or aspect you describe seem like a good idea?

After you have done so, please think back to last week and analyze the provision FROM your apparent political ideology.

PLEASE, try NOT to repeat topics!