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dsmwnewngShort sentences 4-6,
Original post:
Created by Deidra on Jul 20, 2016 2:25 PM
7. Has the ACA met with the expected economic impact in the area of supply and demand?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is significant reform of the U.S health care system in years as it passed with the aim of increasing access to health insurance, improving the quality of care as well as moderating the growth in costs. This report presents an outlook on the impact the ACA has on the U.S economy since its enactment and discuss trends in employment, economic growth and health care costs since 2010. According to (Cutler, 2013), while full- time labor demand remains constant, the impact of the ACA has prompted the workforce to increase the supply of part-time labor to avoid payment requirements of full-time workers. Given this, the demand for part-time employees in the restaurant industry is on the rise. The report further shows that the most widely expected adverse effects of the ACA are yet to materialize. Data from Massachusetts indicates that workers value insurance substantially hence the mandate is evidently a benefit for them. Small businesses rank the cost of health insurance as the most critical problems and a challenging hurdle. Therefore, as demand for medical care for these Businesses and American workers increases, the ACA proves to be good news since such services will now be affordable.
The ACA has provisions aimed at reducing employer spending on health insurance. This is to be achieved, for instance, by the use of “Cadillac Tax” on expensive insurance plans as (Cutler, 2013) noes. In the public sector realms, as demand for medical care increases, the government deals with such increased Medicare costs by borrowing more. Moreover, these higher costs have translated to increased taxes or reduced services. It has also prompted the government to cut spending on other critical sectors of the economy such as education. The ACA will also impact the workforce in the sense that, costs associated with absenteeism from work due to illness will be reduced. In view of all these, it is, therefore, clear that the ACA has met with the expected economic impact vis a vis supply and demand. Thus, it is in line with its major objectives of propelling investments in a bid to boost the economy.
· Amanda Neikam
Actions for reply by Amanda Neikam
Deidra
While you make some case here for supply and demand of workers and the government access to healthcare the question is related to supply and demand of health services. To clarify there has been an assumption that by enacting the ACA that there will be an increase demand for health services in the market thus prompting an increase in supply i.e. expansion of services. Based on this forecast many organizations started strategies that were directed to secure this "new business" however the question is since the enactment in 2012 what are the 2016 statistics and has the legislation produced these economic impacts. If so or if not describe the demand curve and the change in economic terms.
Look forward to your update
Billie posted Jul 22, 2016 10:14 AM
A key economic burden for small business owners is that if they have more than 50 full time employees they are forced to provide health insurance for their employees. If they fail to provide adequate insurance to their employees then they will face a tax penalty of $2,000 for each uninsured employee beyond the first 30 employees. If a small business has less than 50 employees they are exempt from these penalties.
A key economic burden facing all individuals is that insurance premiums have raised since the implementation of ACA. On average rates jumped anywhere from 11-16% in different markets. But some states have had much higher jumps in premiums, for example rates for small employers in Washington State rose 588%.
Due to savings in health care spending relative to its projected growth from ACA, Medicare alone is projected to spend $1 trillion less between 2010 and 2020. But if we as a nation are not careful these positive trends could be reversed causing higher prices. This issue could put the U.S. back on a path where costs increase faster than the economy and peoples incomes which could undermine the affordability of insurance and health care
Erick posted Jul 20, 2016 11:59 PM
Why do smaller firms face higher premiums than larger firms? What does ACA do to address this issue?
Smaller firms face higher premiums than larger firms because adverse selection is significantly lowered in large group markets (Mulvey, 2014). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) also enacts the same market reforms on insurance policies purchased in the individual exchange and small groups (Mulvey, 2014). The reasoning is that small groups should be treated as individual purchasers of insurance coverage. The Affordable Care Act offers subsidies to small groups, and small groups experience savings on health care cost due to the benefits of the health insurance exchanges (McMorrow, Blumberg and Buettgens, 2011). Small groups have the option of shopping around for the best deal that works for the group.