Enacted into law and signed by President Obama in 2010, the ACA’s mission was to provide health insurance coverage to millions of Americans who lacked it. Affordable Care Act benefits included an expanded Medicaid program, insurance exchanges and a marketplace as well as financial support to help more people afford insurance coverage. In addition, it provided that adult children could stay on their parent’s health insurance until age 26 and removed prior conditions as a stumbling block for people seeking health insurance.
Over the years since the Affordable Care Act was signed, several things have changed. Affordable Care Act enrollment under the individual mandate is no longer required. Many state exchanges have been closed down and the open enrollment period has been shortened. Tax credits and other incentives have been decreased and costs have risen sharply due to a number of factors including the unexpected lack of enrollment of younger healthy people.
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At the time the ACA was signed into law approximately 20% of the population of the USA had no health insurance. Just three years later that percentage had dropped to 11.5% ! This included both insurance bought through marketplace and exchange as well as people enrolled in the expanded Medicaid program.
The ACA did away with a major obstacle for individuals and families when it required insurance providers not to disqualify applicants because of prior conditions including pregnancy. It also provided opportunities for states to enlarge Medicaid programs. The tax credits and cost sharing reductions allowed people to purchase insurance.
Most importantly it standardized plans so that they had to include the following:
ACA health plans subsidies are currently available to individuals who make less than 400% of the poverty level. Currently those figures are approximately $50,000 for individuals and around $85,000 for a family of three. Those who exceed these numbers can still purchase Affordable Care Act plans but do not qualify for the subsidy.
The answer is quite simple, for the healthy individual or family it is much less attractive than for an individual or family who have health issues. However, Affordable Care Act health plans are more affordable than paying out of pocket for an unexpected illness or accident as ER costs averaged over $1200/per visit several years ago.
ConsumerCoverage has information on Affordable Care Act health insurance
Apply for Affordable Care Act Insurance here. ConsumerCoverage is your source for insurance coverage of all types.
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Margaret Huntley Margaret Huntley is a creative writing and philosophy student at Western University. She has been working as a freelance writer for over two years and has written about everything from insurance, to poker, to health and wellness for international businesses.
