Introduction Of Healthcare.Gov As A Health Insurance...

Introduction Of Healthcare.gov As A Health Insurance...
The Introduction of HealthCare.gov
Introduction
HealthCare.gov is a health insurance exchange website operated under the United States federal
government under the provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, often
known as 'Obamacare '), designed to serve the residents of the thirty–six U.S. states that opted not to
create their own state exchanges. The exchange facilitates the sale of private health insurance plans
to residents of the United States and offers subsidies to those who earn less than four times the
federal poverty line. The website also assists those persons who are eligible to sign up for Medicaid,
and has a separate marketplace for small businesses.
History
The federal website HealthCare.gov ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Additional contractors were hired for security systems, such as Experian for digital identity
authentication and Quality Software Services, Inc. (QSSI), a UnitedHealth Group company.
According to the GAO, a total of 55 contractors were hired to help build the marketplace.
Development Seed started working on the site in March 2013, mainly the home page, over the
course of four months until the large contractors stepped in. The firm used Jekyll, a Ruby–based
open–source software project that originated at GitHub in 2008 designed to generate static websites.
To promote ease of use when publishing content to Jekyll on GitHub, Development Seed created
Prose.io, a web–based content editor. Pairing Jekyll and Prose.io enable building simple, flexible,
and reliable sites without the overhead of dynamic CMSs. The agency's work has been commended
for using smart underlying technology, a clean responsive design, a developer–friendly API and an
open source project. The firm has since removed the HealthCare.gov code from public view on
GitHub.
After Development Seed created the front end of the health insurance marketplace, they sent their
files to CGI Federal, who then
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Healthcare Policy Analysis Essay
Healthcare policy analysis
Vanessa Connor
Week 7 Devry University Professor Hasting
Healthcare policy analysis
Its finally happening!We get to manage our own health care .Our issues with Healthcare and
insurance is finally looking up in a positive way .Finding a doctor won't be such a hassle nor will it
be someone else telling you who you have to pick . Insurance won't be so high and even has made it
possible to carry insurance without it breaking our pockets each month .This new way of insurance
marketing is a great idea . I feel this will save our pockets and cost of health care can finally go
down .The facts are exceptional and putting a great attitude in a lot of people to feel good about ...
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These states are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont,
and Washington. HHS' approval of these marketplaces is conditioned on the states addressing a short
list of issues highlighted in the review process.
This Issue Brief examines issues related to managed competition and the use of a health insurance
exchange for the purpose of addressing cost, quality, and access to health care services. It discusses
issue that must be addressed when designing an exchange in order to reform the health insurance
market and also examines state efforts at health reform that use an exchange. The basic component
of managed competition is the creation an organized marketplace that brings together health insurers
and consumers (either as individuals or through their employers).The sponsor of the exchange
would set "rules of engagement" for participating insurers and offer consumers a menu of choices
among different plans. Ultimately, the goal of a health insurance exchange is to shift the market
from competition based on risk to competition based on price and quality.Among the issues that
need to be addressed if an exchange that uses managed competition has a realistic chance of
reducing costs, improving quality, and expanding coverage:

The Truth Behind the Access to a Health Insurance and...
The truth behind the access to a health insurance and health care
Mary Ramirez Gonza
The truth behind the access to a health insurance and health care
Summary of a personal experience Access to health services is often related to having a health
insurance. In most of cases both terms go hand in hand, however, this does not always happen in
that way. Five years ago, my mother suffered a myocardial infarction. It was an unexpected situation
for my family, especially for me. My mother was only 54 years, and the doctors did not ensure her
survival. Several weeks after my mother miraculously recovered, the cardiologist who treated her
recommended the realization of a catheterization to place a stent in the affected artery. My mother ...
According to Teitelbaum, & Wilensky, 2013: " CBO projects that by 2019, 24 million individuals
will purchase their own health insurance through an exchange and another 5 million individuals with
access to employer–sponsored insurance will pick an exchange option" (p.171).
Proposed reforms for small businesses, have been ways to prevent abuse within the company (US
department of health and human services, 2015). Moreover, these reforms prevent that the insurance
companies deny health coverage to people with pre–existing conditions (US department of health
and human services, 2015). The extension of health insurance for the benefit of people without it is a
real issue in the country. The fundamental purpose of the ACA is to provide access to health care to
all; this implies that people who are uninsured are the priority. Despite the discrepancies between
different sectors of the country in terms of in the short and long–term costs if the extension will be
establish, I think that the government should make further reforms to ACA as well as the
management and distribution of funds belonging to Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP because the
number of uninsured is outrageous.
Unanticipated consequences of increasing health access The increase in access to health services is
the goal that any health system must conquer. However, given the specific situation of the US health
care system, this increase in access could bring some negative

Affordable Health Care for America Act Essay
For the first time in U.S. history, every American will have access to quality, affordable health care
under the updated health insurance reform legislation passed by the House. "The Affordable Health
Care for America Act or H.R. 3962, blends and updates the three versions of previous bills passed
by the House committees. "(Kruger, M. 2010) This bill is expected to ease the out–of–control costs
of health insurance, introduce competition into the health care marketplace that will help maintain
coverage affordability, protect people's choices of doctors and health plans, and guarantee all
Americans access to quality, consistent , affordable health care. The Association of American
Medical Colleges stated in a Mar. 21, 2010 ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Except in cases of hardship, once market reforms and affordability credits and subsidies are in
effect, individuals will be responsible for obtaining and maintaining health insurance coverage.
"Those who choose to not obtain coverage will pay a penalty of 2.5 percent of modified adjusted
gross income above a specified level. Exemptions will be granted for financial hardship, religious
objections, American Indians, those without coverage for less than three months, undocumented
immigrants, incarcerated individuals, those for whom the lowest cost plan option exceeds 8% of an
individual's income, and those with incomes below the tax filing threshold. " ("Henry J. Kaiser
Family Foundation" 1–13) The individual mandate provision has been the subject of much debate
and there are reasonable arguments for both sides. For those who oppose the responses are
sometimes expressed angrily. One of the most popular oppositions to the mandate is the belief that
an individual mandate is unconstitutional. Congressman John Sullivan not only voted to repeal the
unconstitutional "individual mandate" provision but also stated, "as I have said from the start, the
federal government clearly overstepped its constitutional bounds by making Obamacare the law of
the land. Nowhere in the Constitution is Congress

The Affordable Care Act : Mnsure ( State Of Minnesota )
Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange (MNsure)
John Huddle
2 November 2015
Project: The Affordable Care Act – MNsure (State of Minnesota)
Type: IT (Information Technology)
Introduction
In March 2010, the US President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into the law
which was proposed to provide health insurance services to more American peoples by reducing
health costs. The Affordable Care Act endorsed states to set up health insurance "exchanges" to
register people in insurance programs and increase their capability to evaluate insurance services.
State of Minnesota decided to build up its own health insurance exchange called 'MNsure' system,
rather than rely on the federal exchange. Minnesota chosen the "Cúram Solution to develop health
insurance exchange which was a package system presented by big IT company IBM and was
particularly designed to assist American states to fulfill the ACA requirements. Prior to the Mnsure,
Minnesota was a primary leader in the modernization of health care department in US , but the
system provided by Minnesota makes uncomfortable thousands of state people using MNsure health
exchange program(Greg Davids ,2015).
Scope (MNsure)
MNsure system" was planned to bring the people of Minnesota into the agreement with the
Affordable Care Act and make sure that the state inhabitants had access to the products and services
they were entitled to. Cúram solutions was particularly designed

ACAAdvantages
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted in 2010, is legislation intended to
expand access to healthcare by providing increased health insurance coverage as well as bringing
the uninsured into coverage (Shanks, 2017). The goal of the law was to reform the United States
health system by providing and improving access to quality and affordable healthcare, and to
provide rights and protection to American citizens, all while reducing cost to individuals and the
government.
The three key tenants of the ACA as listed by Cooper and Gardner (2016) are improved access,
affordability, and quality. The reforms of these tenants are listed below:
Make affordable health insurance available to more people
Provide tax credits to lower the cost of insurance for households with incomes between 100% and
400% of the poverty level
Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the poverty level
Doesn't allow insurance companies to deny coverage or raise costs for pre–existing conditions
Stops insurance companies from dropping you when you are sick
Protects against gender discrimination
Expands free preventative services and health benefits
Expands Medicaid and CHIP
Improves Medicare coverage
Required larger employers to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Butler describes in his JAMA article from August 2016, the inequities faced by moderate income
families called the "family glitch" which excludes many working families from exchange tax
credits. The income of these families exceeds the income level at which they are eligible to receive
subsidies/credits. The glitch is that while the "breadwinners'" income may allow them to afford
single coverage it doesn't mean they can afford a family plan (Lieberman, 2016). Lieberman notes
that as many as 4 million people are affected by this

The Proposal For Affordable Health Care
Currently, the law mandate requires with 100 or more full–time employees to provide
health insurance to full–timers or pay a fine. In 2006, those with less than 100 employees will
have to follow suit. The law originally intended for both groups to comply with the mandate in
2014. Affordable health care also requires employer–sponsored health plans to cover 100% of
preventive care services, such as immunizations, prenatal care, and drug screening.
80% of employers are considering raising deductibles, or have already done so. Large
employers may opt to pay fines for not providing health insurance and leave their workers to get
coverage on their own. Doing so might even save them money. Firms could also continue
providing ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Obamacare was sold to give small
businesses new, cheaper sources of insurance through their own health exchanges. Most of those
small–business exchanges won't be able to offer workers a choice of health plans, which
undermines one of the main purposes of having them. It's harder for small–business owners to
follow new rules and requirements than it is for bigger businesses, since they don't have big
human resources departments to help them out. It is very difficult for smaller business owners to
keep up when the rules of the game keep changing.
For the larger businesses, Obamacare was sold as a way to rein in those runaway health
plans. But it also created compliance burdens for many employers. New reporting requirements

notices that all employers have to give to their workers and new costs through taxes and fees that
help pay for different parts of the law.
A worker should not have to pay more than 9.5% of his or her income for self–only
coverage and the plan should not cover less than 60% of the costs. The employer will have to
pay a $3,000 annual fine for each worker that goes to a health exchange for coverage and gets
subsidy for it.
How the implementation of the health care reform campaigned by President Barack
Obama will result in massive job losses and a widespread efforts to limit employees to fewer
than 30 hours per

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is legislation signed into law by the Obama
Administration in 2010 and is gradually becoming implemented over several years. As of 2014 the
ACA is requiring nearly every American to have an approved level of health insurance or pay a
penalty. The required insurance coverage includes nearly 34 million Americans who are currently or
were previously uninsured and is subsidized mainly through Medicaid and Health Insurance
Exchanges that will completely or partially pay for coverage. The ACA goes beyond requirements
for the individual by including extensive requirements on the health insurance industry and several
regulations on the practice of medicine.
The ACA is requiring Americans to ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Code §5000A (b)(1)) of $95 per individual up to $285 per family or 1% of taxable household
income, whichever is greater. Penalties will increase until 2016, case in point in 2015 penalties
would be $325 per individual up to $975 per family or 2% of taxable household income, whichever
is greater and in 2016 penalties would become $695 per individual up to $2,085 per family or 2.5%
of taxable household income, whichever is greater and so on. (Huntington, 2011, p. E40) However,
there are exceptions to the requirement to purchase health insurance and therefore exceptions to
penalties. These exceptions include financial hardship, less than three months in lapse of coverage,
being in prison, and being an American Indian. (Huntington, 2011, Pg. E38)
In addition, the ACA includes health insurance subsidies through Medicaid and Health Insurance
Exchanges. Beginning in 2014 Medicaid will expand , funded by state and federal dollars, to include
persons whose incomes are in the 133% of poverty, a National Uniform Income Qualification, and
there is not any requirement to spend down, meaning to meet an asset test, or to belong to a covered
group (children, pregnant, and/or disabled). (Huntington, 2011) So affectively Medicaid is
expanding to millions of men, women and children.
Still, not all states are required to expand Medicaid because the Supreme Court left it as an option
for each state. In 2017 states can request federal waivers to opt out of requirements such as

Essay on America Needs Obamacare
In the United States, the health market system is defective to the citizen. Even though the market is
available to all citizens; There are at least half of a million Americans without health insurance
plans. The costs of health in the United States have historically been unfavorable. This can be traced
to the fact that the health sector is driven by a market–based system (Fernandez, 2010; Harris,
2011). This means that most of the health insurance companies are privately owned. The companies
provide including basic medical expense plans and catastrophic hospital expense plans to
accommodate the needs of consumers. It also offers supplemental products that provide protection
against risks, including dental, vision, disability, critical ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The recent economy inflation in the year 2008 is an illustration of how the economy can affect the
health care system. Therefore, it is imperative that the government take measures to prevent
regulations in the health sector. This is by taking part in offering inducements to health care
providers, offering public insurance policies and such.
In that aspect, it became critical that the government control the medical health insurance
companies. Previously, the government had allowed the insurance companies to dominate the health
care cover without regulations. In this aspect, the medical covers that were offered became selective
and could not address major issues that affected the discriminated. For example, women's health
issues were not fairly addressed. According to O'Malley (1989):
"To summarize these results, failure to risk–rate health insurance policy results in three types of
market failure. First, moral hazard will affect the medical care purchase market. Second, consumers
will fail to achieve the optimal allocation of income among states of the world; more
specifically,low–risks consumers will systematically subsidize the insurance purchases of high risks.
Third, the conditions for optimal spending on health promotion activities will not be met".
(O'Malley, 1989, p. 304).
On the other hand, health care insurance is to offer consumer–friendly health care policies. Other
direct costs include medical technologies and drug costs. For a long time, health

California Aa Case Study
Standards Increased for California ACA Participants On April seventh of this year, the California
health marketplace announced they would began to reform its contracts with insurers. They plan on
applying quality and cost standards on health plans, hospitals, and doctors. Over seven years,
Covered California, the name of the exchange, will evaluate poor performing health care providers
that do not meet standard core measures, overcharging for services, and other quality metrics. If the
health care providers fail to meet these standards, they could have their payments docked at least six
percent and/or dropped from the network. If standards are met or exceeded, bonuses would be given.
Opponents to the new reform caution that such harsh treatment could lead to a ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
It may also affect the rural areas, where eliminating even one provider would limit patients to access
to health care to geography. With rural areas, there may be allowed some exceptions to this rule.
Over the years, the insurance companies have searched for ways to increase their profit margins at
the expense of the hard working Americas striving to maintain their health at an affordable cost. The
exchange appears to be working under the guise that they are trying to improve the quality of the
health care delivered to patients. However, this does not seem genuine when closely examined.
Inspection of performance of hospitals and providers is normal for certifying bodies such as the
Joint Commissions and The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), not insurance
companies. Fraudulent claims normally investigated by insurance companies are normally caught
and the company recovers some of that cost or denies the claim altogether if fraud is suspected. With
this, it appears that the exchange is trying to branch off into a section of health care that it has not
normally concerned itself with over the time that insurance companies have existed. It could be
argued that the exchange may be

Health Insurance Coverage Analysis
Obamacare is not universal healthcare. The United States actually has an extension of health
insurance coverage that is the program we all call Obamacare. This extension of health insurance
coverage is expected to cover an additional 26 million people by 2024. In understanding this
concept, what we need to understand fully is that the United States does not have universal
coverage. Obamacare does not eliminate uninsurance in America; instead, it cuts the number of
people lacking coverage about in half. Even after Obamacare is fully implemented, budget
forecasters still expect that 31 million Americans will lack insurance coverage which is a bigger
group than the people buying coverage on the exchanges (Vox.com).
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as the ACA or PPACA,
was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. The ACA is a comprehensive health
care reform law containing numerous provisions that are gradually being phased into action over the
course of a decade; most of the provisions in the law will be in effect by 2014, with full
implementation by 2018. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Some of the substantial changes to our health care system made by the law include requiring most
individuals to carry health insurance, keeping insurers from denying a person their benefits based on
a pre–existing condition, creating health insurance exchanges through which individuals and
families not eligible for employer– or government–sponsored health insurance can purchase cover–
age and expanding eligibility for the Medicaid program. The ACA will change the focus of our
nation's health care system from treating sick people to prevention, increasing access to care and
ensuring quality health care for

The State Of Colorado For Different Types Of Healthcare...
Local Healthcare Policy While researching the state of Colorado for different types of healthcare
policies, the most talked about policy was all centered around the State lead Connect for Health
Colorado. Colorado's path to building this insurance marketplace started years before the Affordable
Care Act (ACA). In 2006 the General Assembly passed the Senate Bill 06–208 which created the
Blue Ribbon Commission for health care reform. The goal of the marketplace was to assist
individuals and smaller employers to find insurance options offered through the state. There were
only a few minor changes made in Colorado prior to the passing of the ACA. The ultimate goal of
this policy was to expand health care coverage and decrease health care ... Show more content on
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The Lewin Group (a healthcare policy and research consulting firm) reviewed 5 proposals for the
state and selected the fifth proposal. The fifth proposal was selected because of its $1.4 billion cost
savings. The commission only lasted 15 months and failed to address many problems. The
commission failed to reduce the rising costs of healthcare insurance premiums as well as copays,
deductibles and prescriptions. As the premiums increased under the commission the coverage
decreased in an opposite direction than predicted. The bill was changed in 2009 to the Colorado
Health Care Affordability Act and immediately changed again with the passing of the ACA. The
Connect for Health Colorado insurance exchange has been in place for six years now. Time will
only tell if the program can remain sustainable and adapt to the always changing healthcare
challenges. Research Conducted in Colorado As mentioned earlier the Lewin Group led the majority
of research done for the early stages of the Blue Ribbon Commission. The group researched how
Colorado compared to other states and what changes that they could use from states with successful
health exchanges. Everything from demographics to current insured numbers was closely analyzed
to base the foundation of how the exchange would be established. The need for a Colorado led
insurance market determined by the Senate and Governor Bill Owens. At the time, the

Affordable Care Act Summary
Adverse Selection impact on Health Insurance Exchanges
The Affordable Care Act was designed to insure that all Americans would have access to purchase
affordable health insurance. It was designed to expand health insurance coverage, improve quality
and reduce cost (Affordable Care Act Summary). One of the primary goals of the act was to
decrease barriers for obtaining health care coverage and to allow Americans to access needed health
care services (Affordable Care Act Summary). One of the requirements, which would eventually
cause adverse selection later on, was that the ACA allowed Americans with pre–existing conditions
to obtain health insurance without the hassle of being turned down and/or fear of being charged
higher premiums. Individuals with pre–existing conditions drive up cost for "healthy" populations
(Collins & Nicholson 2010). They ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
An adverse selection problem would arise when making a decision to purchase health insurance on
the exchange due to the fact that high–risk consumers on an insurance plan would both need greater
degrees of coverage and actually utilize the system more often than average, healthier consumers
(Collins & Nicholson 2010). This would eventually lead to the healthiest consumer's paying the cost
of the high– risk consumers. High– risk consumers remain in the health insurance pool, making
health insurance decisions based on their own knowledge of their usability or the probability of
making an insurance claim while the young and healthy pays the healthcare cost but doesn't
necessarily utilize the system as much (Handell 2011). We are faced with the young and healthy
eventually leaving the pool and resubmitting later when they actually need health care services. This
is a major concern since these actions result in a steadily rise in healthcare cost (Collins &
Nicholson

Socialized Medicine And The Health Care Reform
Socialized Medicine and the Health Care Reform are two different types of Health Care programs.
Socialized includes everything related to Health Care, where the Health Care Reform cover mainly
health insurance and cutting cost. One form of socialized medicine is Great Britain National Health
Service or NHS.
Describe socialized medicine and Health Care Reform. Describe health care exchange programs in
Obama Care and socialized medicine. How are they the same and are they different?
Socialized Medicine is a system of national health care that is publicly administered. It includes
programs from government operation of medical facilities to national health–insurance plans
(Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2014). Great Britain passed the ... Show more content on
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The purpose of health care reform is to attempt to expand coverage to 30 million of the nation
approximately 50 million uninsured (Clemmitt, 798). It will do this by allowing young adults to stay
on their parents plan until they are 26 years old. Also it will stop insurance companies from
dropping a person when they are sick or have a pre– existing condition. Other ways it will expand
coverage it will prevent gender discrimination, stop insurance companies from making unjustified
rate hikes, and among other things. The Health Care Reform does not replace private insurance,
Medicare or Medicaid. The Health Care Reform regulates health insurance and some of worst
practices of the for–profit health industry.
The Health Care Exchange Program under the Health Care Reform allow for a person to use their
state's Affordable insurance Exchange to obtain coverage from competing private health care
providers. They can see if they qualify for cost assistance subsides and side–by–side comparisons of
qualified health plans right on–line to make sure they getting the best deal. By 2019 it is estimated
that health insurance exchanges will provide 29 million affordable health care (Health Insurance
Exchange, 2014).
In Great Britain many employers offer private health–insurance plans to workers. Private health–
insurance serve as a perk. Although this is in option only small percent chose to have their medical
treatment privately.
How do these typed of programs

Health Insurance Exchange Essay
Identify a government policy decision that has influenced or will influence your field of study. The
policy decision can be a federal or state agency rulemaking, legislative action, or court decision that
has already been or will be implemented. Discuss one positive and one negative effect that this
policy has had or will have on your field.
America is about to make major changes in the country's health care system. The goal of the
Affordable Care Act is reduction of the number of uninsured individuals and health care expenses.
Some call the reform unconstitutional, some fear inefficient implementation will lead to the opposite
of the anticipated health care cost reduction. According to Kaiser Health Tracking Poll 29% of
Americans ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Increased hospital profit margins. Several factors will contribute to possible revenue increases.
According to Hewitt Associates, a consulting company, health care cost increases could be reduced
by 15% to 20% by 2019, when the reform is fully implemented (See Agency Group, 2009). Under
new law insurance companies will partner with providers and directly negotiate services and prices.
Elimination of a middleman will reduce insurance company bureaucracy and will let providers
concentrate on patient care. Less paperwork could contribute to service cost reduction.
Mandatory health insurance will raise the number of insured people, increasing the demand for
health care services. Hospitals will have a high influx of new patients who previously could not
afford care. Hospital revenue could highly benefit from this. An example from Massachusetts shows
that preventive care will profit the most. (Kolstad & Kowalski, 2012)
With substantially changed health insurance marketplace new health coverage standards will be
implemented (Gabble et al., 2011). The new law will mandate providers to focus on patient safety
and quality of care. Hospitals will be required to provide public reports on: efficiency of services
provided, acute and chronic case management, readmission rates, medical errors, etc. Providers who
offer excellent care will be rewarded, again causing increasing income. The transparency will allow
payers to search for the most effective

Healthcare Systems And Health Insurance
Throughout the course of history, healthcare has been evolving to accommodate the ever–changing
needs of the human body. Along side the developing healthcare system, health insurance has been
modified too. To remain profitable, health insurance companies must change their policy to provide
coverage for the increasing demand of healthcare services. However, the expansion of healthcare
insurance also creates cracks in the system that need to be filled through improved healthcare reform
legislation. The main source of profit for healthcare insurance companies is through premiums that
they charge their clients for standard coverage. However, when these insurance companies are faced
with unexpected, expensive services to cover, they must have other sources of money to maintain
profit. Health insurance companies invest money that has been set aside and use interest to generate
extra profit. Because it may be years before the company has to pay out any insurance claims for an
individual, the company has a lot of time to make their investments. While the process of remaining
profitable through investments seems easy for insurance companies, this method may not work to
cover every individual. As medical advances find more ways to maintain life, the number of
chronically ill, older patients will increase. The growing number of older adults faces serious gaps in
financial coverage for long–term care needs. With this aging population, insurance companies need
to change their policies

Competitors And Unitedhealth Group Peers
COMPETITORS AND UNITEDHEALTH GROUP PEERS
UnitedHealth owns 110.54B of market capitalization, making it becomes leading company in
diversified health and well–being company. Offering a broad spectrum of products and services
through two distinct platform; UnitedHealthcare and Optum, UNH operates in a highly competitive
market, where it identifies its main competitors as managed health care companies, insurance
companies, HMOs and third–party administrators (TPAs). With annual revenue of about $146.94
billion and $12.49 billion of yearly earnings , UNH by far is the largest insurance provider in the
country, leading other competitors in the market including Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., Anthem Inc.,
Health Net Inc., WellPoint, for–profit and non–for–profit insurer under licenses from Blue Cross
Blue Shield. Meanwhile for Optum, competitors include CVS Caremark Corporation, Express
Scripts Inc. and Catamaran Corporation.
A recent update on UnitedHealth Group financial performance suggested that the company has
experienced low Earning Per Share as compared to its peers. UNH share prices on Year–to–Date
(YTD) basis keeps fluctuating for the past 52–weeks indicate the company is struggling to maintain
its position as the nation's largest insurance industry, especially after the mergers of four other key
competitors in the insurance market. Throughout 2015, Aetna, Cigna, Anthem, and UnitedHealth
Group reported rise of approximately 17.6%, 28.5%, 4.6% and 12.1%, which signify slight

Health Insurance Exchanges Essay
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act stipulates that all states must have a health insurance
exchange in place by 2014 or the residents of that state will have the option to enroll through a
federal health insurance exchange. A health insurance exchange aims to provide competitive prices
and transparency to those who are currently unable to afford health care coverage and for some
businesses. It is seen as a step towards universal health coverage. [1] A predecessor of the health
insurance exchange as outlined but the PPACA is the exchange in Massachusetts, which is entitled
the Connector. Connector provides information on name brand health insurance options as well as
information on Commonwealth Care, the no or low cost health ... Show more content on
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However this was adjusted to have individual state health insurance exchanges and if one is not put
into place by 2014 the residents would still have the option to use the federal health insurance
exchange. There was concern that with the smaller health insurance exchanges that there would be
smaller risk pools of eligible people for the exchanges and the targeted effect of lower costs would
not be obtained. With the individual states owning control of the exchanges there is better
connection to the Medicaid options that would be connected to the exchange and the negotiations
with the insurance companies could be more effective as well. [1]
When thinking about how one currently attempts to shop for a personal health care plan it is
frustrating to jump from website to website, or if one can find a site that compares more than one
plan the plans are limited and the companies are few. The FAQ on the health insurance exchange
from the White House explains the exchanges as "It is one–stop shopping that will enable you and
your family to find a plan that is right for you." [5] The transparency that each health insurance plan
will have

Health Insurance : The Affordable Care Act
Introduction:
Health insurance exchanges which are otherwise known as Health Insurance Market places are the
organization set up which facilitate the purchase of health insurance in each state in accordance with
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act .Also known as "Obamacare". Marketplaces provide
a set of government–regulated and standardized health care plans from which individuals may
purchase health insurance policies eligible for federal subsidies. There are some reasons why
exchanges have been so popular are as follows:
The Affordable Care Act no longer allows insurers to deny coverage or charge people more based on
their health status or pre–existing conditions. So, many people who were unable to buy coverage in
the past ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Or a state can partner with the federal government. In a partnership model, the state and federal
government share responsibility for operating that state's exchange.
No matter what each state decides to do, an exchange is available to residents in every state.
Types of exchanges
There are different types of health Insurance Exchanges. Like Public exchanges and Private
Exchanges. Public exchanges exist for both individuals, who are buying insurance for themselves,
and for small group employers, who can buy insurance to offer to their employees. The small group
exchange is called SHOP – short for Small Business Health Options Program.
Public Exchanges
Public exchanges are designed to help shoppers choose a plan that fits their needs and their budget.
Public Exchange offered by the Government either state or federal or both. As mentioned earlier
Public exchanges are available for both individual and small group employers.
Individual Health Insurance
Individual health insurance is coverage that is purchased on an individual or family basis, as
opposed to being offered by an employer.[1] Individual health insurance has historically been less
expensive than group coverage (although employers often pay a portion of the premiums for group
coverage, while individual policies are fully funded by the insured). This is because individual plans
are medically underwritten and the level of coverage has traditionally been less than what group

Obamacare Cons
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), or Obamacare, was authoritatively
marked into law on March 23, 2010. It was created to make healthcare more lower–priced and
effectively available to a more extensive scope of Americans. Under the law, individuals in the
United States who do not meet all requirements for an exemption are required to acquire a minimum
amount of health care coverage. Supporters of Obamacare argue that it has had some benefits since
its passage, including reducing the uninsured rate, enabling a huge number of Americans to acquire
health insurance through the new health insurance exchanges or Medicaid expansion. In the article
"Trump Should Save Obamacare" by Nancy–Ann Deparle states that twenty–four million

Affordable Care Act And Small Business
Affordable Care Act and Small Business
Many people have a lot of questions when it comes to the new healthcare reform law. First off
Obamacare is formally called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act is the healthcare reform law that was signed in 2010 and now many states
have opened their health insurance marketplace exchanges as of October 1, 2013.
This new healthcare reform law aims to increase the number of Americans that are covered by
health insurance and also to decrease the cost of health care. Under this new law everyone in
America will have to get health insurance of some form. Insurance companies can no longer deny
people coverage because of a preexisting condition nor ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
For those who cannot afford to pay the health insurance premium could be eligible to use federal tax
credits and subsidies to help save up to 60% of the current cost of health insurance premiums. This
will make health insurance coverage affordable for up to 23 million Americans (Obamacare, 2013).
Under the new health care reform law over 47 million women will have access to women's services
with no out of pocket costs for preventative and wellness services (Obamacare, 2013). The low–
income individuals will have the opportunity of getting health insurance coverage through the state
exchange, Medicare, or Medicaid; however some states have opted out of the Medicaid expansion in
which some low–income individuals will not be eligible. Seniors and other individuals eligible for
Medicare will see expanding benefits and coverage options; however there will be decreases in
home health payments and hospital coverage as well. Obamacare will require businesses with over
50 full–time employees to provide affordable health insurance coverage to its employees however
small businesses with 25 employees or less will receive federal tax credits to help offset the costs
that a small business will face to encourage these businesses to provide health coverage to

The On The Public Option
"The Public Option"
The public option was extraordinarily popular among the liberal democratic base buts its benefits
were regularly overstated. At heart of the challenges of the public option were the solution was a
veil for a government run healthcare plan and the pre–text to a single payer solution. If over time the
government plan were cheaper than private insurance it would erode the insurance business and
eventually put them out of business.
Many have argued any public option using the government's power to negotiate would be unfair
competition and ultimately put the private insurers out of business, which is true in theory. The
government gas significant control over the cost of provider services and like what happens with ...
As an example, in 1997 Congress attempted to fix the reimbursement rate by fixing it to the
Resource–Based Relative Value Scale, or RBRVS, and using a new system called the Sustainable
Growth Rate, tied the growth in physician fees to growth in the size of the nations economy, as
measured by GDP and it didn't work. As Medicare spending grew faster than the economy, the new
law required Medicare fees to be reduced and both parties of Congress have refused to enforce the
provision.
Silver State Health Insurance Exchange
Nevada was the only state with a Republican governor to decide to run its own exchange and the
Silver State Health Exchange had significant technical issues before the 2014 open enrollment and
the issues were never fully resolved which resulted in the Nevada exchange board unanimously
agreeing to terminate the Nevada Health Link exchange and replace with Healthcare.gov enrollment
platform.
The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange is a quasi–governmental organization governed by a
10–member board. The board was charged with building an online marketplace for Nevada
consumers and small businesses to shop, compare, and buy health and other insurance benefits in an
efficient and paperless manner.
Nevada Health Link is the marketplace created by the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange that
connects individuals to insurance companies that offer

Obamacare : The Affordable Care Act
In 2008, during President Obama's campaign, President Obama announced that he would fight for a
national health care system that helped millions of uninsured Americans obtain health insurance.
The Affordable Care Act, also termed Obamacare, passed on Christmas Eve of 2009. While some
people believe the Affordable Care Act is great, others are not too fond of the of it. From passing the
bill, the government hoped to expand Medicaid eligibility to help more people whose income was
meager or near poverty level. Although the idea was good, studies show that people of color,
families in rural areas, and those with cultural and language barriers struggle to receive health care
and pay for it. Furthermore, since Obamacare passed into law, the ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
There must be changes made to the subsidized programs to allow for higher reimbursements to
doctors, as well as facilities, to offset the rising swath of people who needs quality health care and
are unable to receive it due to having low income, people of color, different ethnic backgrounds,
language barriers, and the differencing in socioeconomic classes; Otherwise the disparities in health
care will continue to spiral out of control, and Americans cannot allow that to continue. In 2008,
upon the commencement of The Affordable Care Act, the idea was to help millions of uninsured
Americans gain health insurance, especially those who are at or just above the federal poverty level.
Although the idea behind a universal health care system was great at the time, many citizens are
struggling to find a doctor that will accept the subsidized health care insurance, such as Medicaid,
and Passport. Furthermore, doctors choose to opt–out of accepting government based health
insurance because the reimbursement rates are too low. "It is estimated that private plans pay $1.00
for a service, Medicare pays $0.80, and the ACA exchange plans are paying about $0.60." (Harvey
1) That shows that the government based subsidized programs are significantly lower than the
average market value. A

What is the Affordable Care Act?
You and The Affordable Care Act.
There are so many people here in the country that is not getting their complete health care coverage
because of preventable conditions. Most Americans only receive half of the services suggested. The
Affordable Care Act is mainly directed to the needs of Americans in need of healthcare that are not
already covered.
Lets take a look at how the ACA (Affordable Care Act) exchanges work. If you don't have insurance
with your job or cannot afford insurance or the insurance you have is not meeting the standards, the
ACA (Affordable Care Act) exchange is what you need that will let you compare costs and coverage
to get what's best for you.
The ACA (Affordable Care Act) is mostly for people who are not insured, or who are self–insured
and feel that they can get a better price on insurance. However, this does not concern you, if you are
currently receiving health insurance from your job or from a government assistance program like the
VA or Medicare.
President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law on March 23rd of 2010, with
hopes of helping make sure every American have access to quality and affordable health care.
Having health care coverage is really a big deal, whether you are a parent with private insurance, a
senior with Medicare or a single woman with a pre–existing condition, the Affordable Care Act
(ACA) can save you money and help you get better coverage.
The exchange is geared towards getting uninsured people health

The Affordable Care Act ( Aca )
Recently, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) celebrated six years since the law's passage. During that
time, there have been many debates and slow changes to the United States healthcare system. One
area that has been debated is in regards to employer–based health insurance along with the
advantages and disadvantages in providing this type of coverage. Since there is more information
about the expansion of health insurance options and how the exchange sponsored insurance plans
are functioning, the discussion on if employer–based health insurance is beneficial or detrimental
will be examined.
Background
The debate over the future of how Americans obtain their health insurance has been a hot topic since
the passage of the ACA in 2010. "The ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Opponents of the ACA cite that the law will end employer–based health insurance and force
everyone into a universal health plan.
While part of this supposition is incorrect, there is some truth behind the notion. Larger companies
can negotiate better rates for their employees because of the volume of coverage, compared to small
or medium businesses (Urbel, 2013). Insurance companies are more apt to give a large company
lower premiums because of the volume that is needed to cover their employees, as well as the lower
actuarial risk of containing costs for serious illnesses (Ubel, 2013). A University of Michigan study
found that between 2000–2011, small and medium businesses have been decreasing employer–
based health insurance coverage, while larger companies (over one hundred employees) have
consistently provided coverage (Ubel, 2013). This trend started before the passage of the ACA and
supports that small and medium businesses were having difficulty in providing this benefit to their
employees consistently.
Another issue that Ubel's article discusses is how economic factors influence employer's decisions in
providing benefits to employees. If an employee is earning a higher salary, the individual may
decide to forgo some of their pay to receive benefits, like health insurance (Ubel, 2013). Conversely,
a low–wage earner does not have the financial latitude to sacrifice some of their wages to receive
health insurance

The Biggest Software Disasters
Introduction
This research paper takes a look at two of the biggest software disasters in the past decade,
Healthcare.gov website and the DIA Baggage system. In this paper, I analyze the different
engineering approaches that were used, assess the success or failure of each to draw conclusions
regarding "best" practices. Healthcare.gov
The Affordable Care Act also known as ObamaCare was signed into law by President Barack
Obama on
March 23, 2010 to overhaul the US healthcare system. HealthCare.gov is a health insurance
exchange website that was created as a result of this law. The objective of the website is to create a
marketplace of health insurance companies and facilitate the sale of private health insurance plans to
residents. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Thus the Healthcare.gov is a huge complex system. Designing a complex system such as this is
quite an undertaking. A good design approach is required. A properly designed system goes a long
way to make testing easier.
Healthcare.gov Architecture
The Healthcare.gov consists of the following major components
1. A dynamic website and transaction processing application called the Federally Facilitated
Marketplace (FFM)
2. A Data Services Hub
3.A set of distributed services comprising of the new and legacy systems of many health insurance
companies and government agencies.
Figure 1. Healthcare.gov logical system architecture [1]
The FFM requirement was to interact in real time with other systems, existing federal agency
databases and online services of more 170 insurance companies doing business in the 36 states. The
data services hub allows the insurance companies to validate information provided by applicants
against information maintained in the federal agencies databases. The distributed services are the
services provided by the insurance and the government agencies through published APIs. So the
data services hub connect to all these different entities through their application programming
interfaces.
Problems
The four activities fundamental to software engineering are software specification, software
development (design and implementation), software validation and software evolution. These
activities are used

Health Insurance Marketplace
Many people often wonder what they should do when their health insurance runs out or is about to
run out. Here are a few thing that you need to know that will help you make those important
decisions when your health insurance is close to expiring or has expired:
If you have lost coverage due to a job change or job loss, you can apply for coverage under the
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, also known as COBRA.
You can search the Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the Health Insurance Exchange,
and compare private insurers' side–by–side to see who can offer you the best coverage with the
lowest costs.
If your health care coverage is about to run out due to a qualifying event, you are eligible for a
special enrollment ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
You and your dependents are also entitled to a special enrollment period in your spouse's health
insurance plan if you have lost coverage due to a qualifying event. If you are single with children,
you can special enroll your children in their other parents health insurance plan if you have lost or
are about to lose your coverage. If you plan on using the Health Insurance Marketplace, keep in
mind that you must choose a policy 60 days before or 60 days after you have lost your employer–
based policy.
The term "qualifying event" refers to any situation is which you have lost your health insurance
coverage due to circumstances that were beyond your control. Qualifying events include termination
of employment other than gross misconduct, a reduction in hours or getting laid off from your job.
Other qualifying events include the death of a spouse, divorce/legal separation or you become
eligible for coverage under

Introduction The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has been one of the most
controversial laws in the history of The United States. One of the key components of the law is the
creation of health insurance exchanges. The states had the option to establish a state managed
exchange, partner with the federal government, or let the federal government establish the exchange
for them. Several states have opted to let the federal government establish the exchange for them. As
of May 28, 2013, there are 17 State–based Marketplaces; 7 Partnership Marketplaces; 27 Federally
Facilitated Marketplaces.1 In the State of Mississippi, the Commissioner of Insurance Mike Chaney
announced and submitted to U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) the application
to establish the exchange; however, the governor Phil Bryant opposed the state exchange. The HHS
rejected the application due to the opposition of the governor.2 Due to this dynamic, the State of
Mississippi would be an interesting state to follow and observe how the state overcame the
challenges to become one of the twenty–seven federally facilitated marketplace states. This paper
will discuss how the 50 states and the District of Columbia are implementing this aspect of the law,
expected and current results/ progress by looking at the history nationwide, sustainability, successes,
unintended consequences, and the goals and objectives of the PPACA and see how Mississippi
faired in the implementation of

Health Insurance Exchange Research Paper
Health Insurance Exchange Health insurance exchange. (Insurance, 2012–2015) In the United
States, health insurance marketplaces, are also called health exchanges. These are organizations that
are here to help anyone that is wanting to purchase health insurance and in doing so each state in
accordance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, known also as
"Obamacare"). There are two separate divisions of the Healthcare Marketplace. They are a state
level and a federal level. There are thirty–seven states that are members of the federal exchange and
fourteen states that are limited to a state exchange. There are some companies are not required to
provide any type of information about prices and their plans. Those

Case Study : The Health Insurance System
Alex D Kim
67–371
Assignment #1
Summary
The healthcare.gov website was launched on October 1st, 2013. The system was designed to sell
health insurance to residents of states that have not opted to make their own health insurance
exchange system; however, the project was deemed a failure on the day it launched. The users
experienced long wait times and the entire website became unusable. The combination of lack of
communication, lack of understanding of technology, and premature publishing caused the system
failure. If people were more open about the project and if there was more collaboration, the
healthcare.gov system would not have been published before all the problems were fixed, thus
preventing the disaster.
Often, people would complain about the health insurance and how complicated the American health
insurance system is. This is the problem that Obama's Affordable Care Act sought to fix. Their goal
was to provide health insurance to those who needed it, allowing most people to obtain some type of
coverage. After passing the law, the website made its debut on October 1st, 2013, and to many, they
remember this date as the day healthcare.gov failed. Majority of the users could not use the website
due to its slow speeds, and some functionalities (such as dropdown buttons) were not working as
intended. This paper will try to pinpoint and analyze the key mistakes of the half–trillion dollar
healthcare.gov system through the People, Process, Product, Technology view, and

In 2010, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, PPACA, or
ACA, became a law. This act, along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010,
comprise the health care reform platform initiated and signed by President Obama. For the
American public, there are abundant reasons for dissatisfaction: "higher costs; arbitrary and
sometimes absurd rulemaking; bureaucratization of an already overly bureaucratized sector of the
economy; incompatibility with personal freedom and religious liberty; enormous spending and
heavy taxation; and widely acknowledged design flaws, evident in the ACA's hopelessly complex
and unworkable subsidy schemes, boondoggle bailouts, and collapsing co–ops" (Moffit, 2016). For
many Americans, opposition to the Affordable Care Act is rightly rooted in their rejection of the
tactics and assumptions underlying its structural design. A few key provisions employers need to be
concerned with is "firms that employ fifty or more people who work thirty or more hours per week
but do not offer them health insurance will have to pay a penalty to the government" (Snell, Morris,
& Bohlander, 2013, p. 484). Also, "firms with 200 full–time employees will be required to
automatically enroll new full–time employees in their healthcare plans" (Snell, Morris, &
Bohlander, 2013, p. 484). Employers must similarly offer coverage to their employee's children until
they turn twenty–six years old. "Managers are also concerned

Life, Liberty, and Happiness
Health Care Reform 2010
For the first time in U.S. history, every American will have access to quality, affordable health care
under the updated health insurance reform legislation passed by the House. "The Affordable Health
Care for America Act or H.R. 3962, blends and updates the three versions of previous bills passed
by the House committees."(Kruger, M. 2010) This bill is expected to ease the out–of–control costs
of health insurance, introduce competition into the health care marketplace that will help maintain
coverage affordability, protect people's choices of doctors and health plans, and guarantee all
Americans access to quality, consistent, affordable health care.
The Association of American Medical Colleges stated in a Mar. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Under existing law, therefore, the tax is clearly constitutional. Many important and popular
government programs are based on Congress 's ability to give incentives through taxation and
redistribute tax revenues for public purposes. To strike down the individual mandate the Supreme
Court would have to undermine many years of precedence justifying these programs that stretch
back to the New Deal.
Other opposing views against the mandates argue that the bill and won 't produce what was promises
but instead will create higher costs and less health insurance. "Physicians for a National Health Plan
(PHNP), stated in their Mar. 22, 2010 press release, "As much as we would like to join the
celebration of the House 's passage of the health bill, in good conscience we cannot. We take no
comfort in seeing aspirin dispensed for the treatment of cancer. Instead of eliminating the root of the
problem – the profit–driven, private health insurance industry – this costly new legislation will
enrich and further entrench these firms. This bill 's passage reflects political considerations, not
sound health policy....." ("Pro single payer," 2010) Similarly The U.S. Chamber of commerce has
expressed concerns repeatedly with H.R. 3590. "The Senate bill would: impose job–killing
mandates and penalties on businesses, increase taxes and burdens on small businesses, create
dangerous new entitlements while ... ultimately doing little to control the long–term spiraling of

Obamacare : An Imperfect Fix
Obamacare is an Imperfect Fix
Since June 6, 2009, President Barack Obama has told the American public numerous times, "If you
like your health care plan, you 'll be able to keep your health care plan." The public later found out
that this was not the case. If your health care plan did not satisfy the minimum federal requirements,
then you will disinherit your plan and, you must find another one. House republicans have tried to
repeal the bill almost 40 times because they claim it is a major threat to the economic health of the
nation. Despite all of the political rhetoric about Obamacare over the past few years, a majority of
Americans do not know what it is and how it affects them. While Obamacare does attempt to amend
some of the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
On average, premiums rose by 41% throughout the country. (Roy) The subsidies do help to curtail
the sting, but it does not do enough, especially for those who earn near 400% of the poverty line.
According to David Nather, the subsidies will make sure that about 9.5% of earnings will spent on
to premiums. That is much higher than the fine, which is 2.5% of income (Nather page 42). People
may not even sign up in the first place because it is more economical if they pay the penalty.
According to David Nather, the bill also plans to set up something called a health exchange. A health
care exchange is a virtual marketplace where you can purchase health insurance. It is "Expedia for
health care" essentially(page 71). The exchanges were created for small businesses and for people
who cannot obtain employer based insurance or they do not want insurance from their employer.
Health insurance cannot refuse coverage for pre–existing conditions. The new standards organize
the plans into one of four categories. These categories are as follows: bronze, silver, gold and
platinum. According to Nather, bronze covers 60% of all health care costs; silver covers 70% of all
costs; gold covers 80% and the platinum plan covers 90% of all health care costs. All these values
are averages so coverage will vary (Nather page 76). If health insurance companies raise rates too
much, they will be removed from the exchange.

Affordable Care Act Analysis
'Over 105 million people living in America today no longer have to worry about having their health
benefits cut off' (Secretary WH) . Since enacted, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been able to
provide for millions of lower and middle class Americans a secure and reasonable healthcare plan
that best suits their medical needs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) also
commonly refer to as 'Obamacare' was a solution implemented in 2010 to help reform the precarious
healthcare system in the United States. The ACA imposed three key reforms adopted from the
successful Massachusetts system of healthcare. First, the ACA established a "guaranteed issue and
community rating requirements" which essential barred healthcare insurances ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
Burwell. As chief justice Roberts elucidated in his majority opinion that "such Exchange, under
section 18041 instructs the Secretary to establish and operate the same exchange that state was
directed to establish under section 18031.... because they do not differ in any meaningful way". So
therefore, state exchanges and federal exchanges must uniformly meet the same requirements,
perform the same functions, and serve the same purposes. It is indeed fair to say that the wording of
the phrase does explicitly mention that exchanges established by 'states' only would receive
refundable tax credit, however such interpretation would definitely destabilize the individual
insurance market in any state with a federal exchange, and also likely to create the very 'death spiral'
that congress designed the act to avoid. In which the cost of medical premiums will rise
significantly, the number of people buying healthcare insurance to decline, and insurers leaving the
market entirely. Chief Justice Roberts also explained how the structure of section 36B itself suggests
that tax credit are not limited to state exchanges. Section 36B(a) initially provides that tax credits
"shall be allowed" for any "applicable taxpayer." Furthermore, section 36B(c)(1) then defines an
"applicable taxpayer" as 'someone who (among other things) has a household income between 100
percent and 400 percent of the

Health Insurance : The Patient Protection And Affordable...
b. Health Insurance
In the modern United States, the starting point of any practical discussion about health insurance
begins with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA has a significant
amount of influence over employers and their individual employees, and therefore must be
discussed before any recommendations may be made. There are three major aspects of the ACA that
are relevant to our client and that ought to be discussed and considered. These aspects include the
individual mandate, the employer mandate, and the exchanges.
First, the individual mandate requires individuals to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty tax.
There are exemptions but these do not apply to our clients or their employees, as the facts have been
presented. The practical effect of this for our clients, is that each owner and employee must have
health insurance. This leaves each individual with two options, purchases his or her own insurance
or the company buys a health insurance plan for the employees. Going without health insurance is
hardly an option given the harsh penalties imposed under the ACA. At this point in time, the penalty
is the greater of (1) $695 per individual and $347.50 per child (up to a maximum of $2,085 per
family) or (2) 2.5 percent of the family's income.
Second, the employer mandate is a requirement that all businesses with over 50 full time employees
provide healthcare for their employees or face a tax penalty. This penalty is officially

Health Care Of The United States
Every country worldwide has it 's own way of providing and making health care available for its
citizens. More specifically, the developed nations all have their own system in how they make their
health care available. Some are more expensive, some provide better quality of care, some are
available to all citizens and some are available only to those who can afford it. For the first time in
United States history, a health care act has passed, that will claim to insure everyone nationwide
regardless of their income. This act adopted is also know as the ACA. This paper will go into detail
about health care that is provided not only in the US, but in other countries world wide. We will
discuss the benefits of certain systems and the pros and cons of some of the systems. The costs, the
most successful, the increased access to primary care providers, the use of technology, and what
needs reform.
Health care providers in the United States are largely owned by the private sector. Most of the
United States provision and spending comes from programs such as Medicare, and Medicaid.
Whereas most Americans under the age of 65 and are not disabled are insured by their employer,
paying for their own insurance, or are just left uninsured. The United States is currently 50th out of
221 nations in terms of life expectancy from 78 years of age up from 75 years of age in 1990, and
only 27th out of the 34 industrialized countries. That is down 14 positions from 20th in 1990. The
US system is

Conservatism In Healthcare
In analyzing former President Obama's healthcare initiative referred to as Obamacare or the
Affordable Care Act, the provisions of this law are sectioned into four categories known as:
coverage expansion, insurance market reforms, taxes, and insurance exchanges that serve different
functions. Concerning coverage expansion, individuals were mandated to purchase insurance with
the expansion of coverage in the private market or would be subject to pay a tax penalty in the year
of 2014. Additionally,to help with purchasing insurance, there are tax credits provided on a sliding
scale for families and individuals that are up to four times of the federal poverty line. If a family's
income is up to 133% of the poverty threshold, Medicaid eligibility ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Specifically, an ideology is a cohesive set of beliefs or values that forms a general philosophy about
the proper role of government. Through political socialization as a process, people will develop
ideologies to serve as a basis of reference for one's own political thinking even though everyone has
this type of belief system. According to studies, no higher one–third of Americans possess ideology.
Two of the four main ideologies in the Unites States that are important in determining America's
healthcare initiative are liberalism and conservatism. In contrast to one another, liberalism is a belief
in using the government for the purpose of economic regulation and redistribution but not for the
purpose of preserving traditional values while conservatism is a belief in using the government for
preserving traditional values but not using it for economic regulation/redistribution. In terms of
conflicts between individual liberty and law and order, a liberal tends to side with individual liberty
while a conservative tends to side with law and

Health Insurance Exchanges ( Hix )
HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGES
Health insurance exchanges (HIX) are the marketplaces which are established based on the
Affordable Care Act provides customers at an individual level or to small businesses, health
insurance which they can compare and purchase from private insurance companies. Individuals can
make use of the state level exchange depending on one's state residence or can purchase insurance
from a federally facilitated exchange which is accessible at Healthcare.gov website. (1)
Affordable Care Act requires every state to either operate their state exchange or use federally
facilitated exchange to provide affordable healthcare coverage to individuals and small businesses as
a means to increase the access to health ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
ACA also proposed federal subsidies to individuals with household income lying between 100% and
400% of federal poverty level without the employer sponsored coverage or individual health
insurance is made eligible for federal subsidy grants by helping those individuals to pay for
coverage through the health insurance exchanges(2). For state based exchanges, it should efficiently
operate in assessing the eligibility for programs like Medicaid and Children 's Health Insurance
Program (CHIP) by providing and determining the premium tax credits and cost sharing subsidies
for the individuals who are going to purchase insurance from the exchanges. (3) For individuals to
qualify for subsidies these Health insurance exchanges are the only place to enroll and obtain the
subsidies.
Based on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), by 2014 it is mandated that
every individual is obliged to have health coverage which may be provided by the employer or can
purchase the coverage plan through private insurance companies off the exchanges or can buy
through public health insurance exchanges and apply for subsidies if unaffordable and if the
individual opts for not purchasing health insurance except qualified for individual financial
exemption is obliged to pay tax penalties.(6) Similarly, for small businesses with 50 or lesser
employees, employer should provide fully insured plan or offer a self– funded plan if accepted by
the

Health Insurance Exchange Research Paper
A health insurance exchange is the online marketplace individuals use to purchase health insurance.
The official term used when referring to the exchange in "health insurance marketplace." It is
estimated that the online exchanges will provide almost 29 million American citizens with
reasonably priced health insurance.
During the open enrollment period you can use the exchange to enroll in new health insurance,
change your current insurance plan, apply for and/or verify any financial assistance you may qualify
for and enroll in Medicaid or CHIP. You can change insurance or purchase new insurance only
during the open enrollment period. If you are not able to obtain insurance during this specific time
period, then you will not be able

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