2013
What do you know about the Affordable Care Act (health care reform)? Forty percent of Americans don’t even know the Law is in effect and even more don’t know all the things the Law requires or changes. Everyone is affected in several ways, even those individuals with employer-based coverage they like. Some employers are helping their employees better understand the Law. Here is an example of what one employer told its workers.
Would you have known the definitions explained below?
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—also known as Health Care Reform—to ensure all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care. Since Health Care Reform is saturating the media, we want to provide you with a few terms to help you better understand it:
“Exchange”—a health insurance marketplace where individuals and small companies can shop for health plan coverage.
“Pay or play”—employers will be required to provide health insurance to their employees or pay a fee to the government.
“Cadillac tax”—an excise tax that employers will be required to pay beginning in 2018 if their medical plan costs more than $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage.
“Affordable health care”—your paycheck contributions for employer-provided health care coverage cannot be greater than 9.5% of your total household income.
“Minimum essential coverage”—the type of coverage an individual needs to have to meet the requirements under Health Care Reform. This includes eligible employer-sponsored coverage, individual market policies, Medicare, Medicaid, Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and TRICARE (Department of Defense health care program).
“Subsidy”—individuals who do not have minimum essential coverage can apply for a tax credit subsidy that they can use to pay for coverage purchased through an exchange.
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