Jillian Lewis

Econ 2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
I chose to do my research on the affordable care act also known as Obamacare. What is it
though? Who is it affecting? What are the costs associated? How is this affecting the economy? What
are the pros and cons? Obamacare is a United States statue signed into law by President Obama with
the goals of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance, lowering the uninsured rate by
expanding public and private insurance coverage, and reducing the cost of healthcare for individuals and
the government. The law also requires insurance companies to cover all applicants with new minimum
standards and offer the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions.
Who and how it is affecting people
Obamacare is affecting everybody including business owners. Our seniors that rely on the
Medicare program are now worried that this law will reduce the doctors they can see and the coverage
that they receive. Over the next ten years the law cuts an estimated $716 billion from Medicare.
Problem there is that they are not setting the savings aside for the future of Medicare. The deep cuts
being made to Medicare is jeopardizing the viability in the coming years.
This law is also affecting the drug companies and medical device makers with new taxes, which in
turn will be more costly health care for seniors. Obamacare is affecting more than just those two
businesses. It states that a business with 50 or more employees that work 30+ hours a week are
required to have insurance for all the employees or they will be fined $2000 per full time employee
minus the first 30 employees. This is allowing companies to decide what is cheaper to lay off employees,
or have the employees go part time. In the long-run is hurting the demand for employment.
People who were willing and able to work are now not working as much as an effect of the
Obamacare, because their hours have been cut back and are now not getting the insurance through
Jillian Lewis
Econ 2010
work and some not able to afford payments of the private health insurance and are now costing the
state more outflows of cash looking for help within the system.
The costs associated with Obamacare
Almost everybody will see some sort of cost associated with this bill and will affect them in some
way or another. People that do have insurance now have plans with high deductibles and are having to
put funds into a health savings account just to pay for doctor visits and other medical items that come
up until they get to the deductible for the insurance to kick in. These were marked for extinction with
the law and now this is becoming the dominant plans being offered.
Businesses are getting an additional tax on top of what they are already being taxed. They are
also being required to have coverage for employees if they employ 50+ employees who work more 30+
hours per week. This is causing employers to lay off workers and moving others to part-time status. If
employers do not offer insurance to the employees they will be find $2000 per employee minus the first
30 employees. (ex. (80-30) * 2000 = $100,000).
If you do not get insurance you will also be fined $95 or 1% of AGI per adult and $47.50 per child
under 18. In 2015 the penalty increases to $325 or 2% of AGI, and in 2016 up to $695 or 2.5% of AGI.
This could get costly for the people who do not have insurance. Possibly you are someone that cannot
afford your insurance and you do not qualify for Medicaid.
The effects on the economy
Obviously the economy is affected by a number of things, but believe it or not Obamacare is one
of the factors that is affecting the economy. The law was put in place to help the economy and to
hopefully boost it, but unfortunately so far it has not helped as much as it has hurt.
Jillian Lewis
Econ 2010
Some of the major factors being that businesses now can reduce the number of hours worked
per employee, layoff, or move to part-time status. Some businesses have begun this stage, causing
demand for employees to go down, while causing demand for more jobs to go up. More people are now
having to seek state assistance.
Consider the doctors and hospitals, who thought they would see a flood of newly insured
patients, but are now trying to find a way to cut their expenses to deal with the slower-than-expected
growth in the reimbursement from the Medicare program. They all supported the Obamacare plan with
the expansion of the benefits, but are now seeing some of their services and products cut out of some
insurance plans. The flood did not come, because the newly insured people may have insurance, but
have a high deductible that needs to be met before the plan actually kicks in.
Pros and Cons of Obamacare
The main advantage of the affordable health care act is it is in place to lower health care costs
overall by making insurance more affordable for more people. Other good things is everyone can be
insured now and not turned away for pre-existing conditions. The insurance is now provided more fairly,
before the act you needed to meet specific requirements to be able to get coverage. Now if you can
afford an insurance plan you can have it no matter your situation.
A huge disadvantage of this is that the Act could cause health care costs to increase over the
short term. This being because some people will be getting preventative care for the first time, which
may have undiagnosed illnesses needing treatments driving up the costs. The higher taxes being placed
on the individuals and businesses is another big disadvantage. Others being 3-5 million workers are
facing losing their existing company-sponsored health insurance.

Jillian Lewis
Econ 2010
My conclusion
Overall the Act is not working with what Obama promised it would do. In the WHO ranking the
U.S. stands in 37
th
place for its health insurance plans. Overall more is being spent, but less is coming out
of the more spending. 17% of all GDP is being spent on healthcare, while other countries are at 8%.
There is still a large amount of uninsured, 45 million and 9 million of that being kids, and another 25
million with inadequate coverage. 15-20% of what you spend on health insurance is going to admin
costs.
I am on both sides of the Obamacare Act. I understand that he is trying to lower health care costs
and I am all for that, but I do not agree with the fact that it is now a law I have to have health insurance.
We are 1099 sub-contractors and so the information they ask for on our wages is not truly what we
make after paying employees, but do not show what employees are paid until the end of the year with a
1099. So the thing about it is that we still cannot afford health insurance and do not qualify for any
assistance for the same reasoning. I agree with what he is trying to do, but feel there would be better
way to implement something without causing more expenses to workers, people and businesses.
More people are still against the Act, Currently, 43% approve and 54% disapprove the law. The
white house reports that 7 million enrolled in health care. Overall people disapprove of the law and feel
it will make things worse, 53% believe it will make health care worse and only 23% think it will get
better.



Jillian Lewis
Econ 2010
Work Cited
http://useconomy.about.com/od/healthcareform/what-is-obamacare.htm
What is Obamacare? - The Facts as They Apply to You
By: Kimberly Amadeo

www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/03/deadline-day-obamacare
Whats the Prognosis?
By: C.H.
Date written: 03/31/2014

www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/02/25/is-obamacare-an-economic-disaster/
Is Obamacare An Economic Disaster?
By: Mike Patton
Date written: 02/25/2014

www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2014/march/24/what-are-the-penalties-for-not-getting-insurance.aspx
What are the Penalties for Not Getting Insurance?
By: Michelle Andrews
Date written: 03/24/2014

http://www.heritage.org/research/projects/impact-of-obamacare
The Impact of Obamacare
By: The Heritage Foundation

http://www.gallup.com/poll/168491/americans-remain-negative-healthcare-
law.aspx?utm_source=WWW&utm_medium=csm&utm_campaign=syndication
Americans Remain Negative toward Healthcare Law
By: Jeffery M. Jones
Date written: 04/11/2014


Jillian Lewis
Econ 2010
http://www.nfib.com/cribsheets/employer-mandate/
Stay Connected to Small Business
By: NFIB

www.ijbcom/the-dose-2014-01-02-no-one-likes-obamacare/params/post/45383
No one likes Obamacare
By: J.K. Wall
Date written: 2/2/2014

www.online.wsj.com/news/articles/sb1000142405270234418404579469412924624586
Obamacares Hidden Hit on Businesses
By: Bernie Marcus
Date written: 4/1/2014

www.online.wsj.com/news/articles/sb10001424052702304680904579367143880532248
The Economist Who Exposed Obamacare
By: Joseph Rago
Date written: 02/07/2014

www.En.wikipedia.org/wiki/patient_protection_and_affordable_care_act
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
By: Wikipedia free encyclopedia

http://vimeo.com/56084534
The Bottom Line Health Care
Featuring: Gerald Epstein, Gerald Friedman, Robert Pollin, and Jeffrey Sachs