Affordable Health Care 2017

Affordable Health Care

The Affordable Care Act (not the Affordable Healthcare Act) is the US healthcare reform law. The law makes healthcare and health insurance more affordable and more available to more Americans.

It seeks to make health insurance more affordable through a number of mechanisms including: new consumer protections, new rules and regulations on the healthcare industry, new marketplace for subsidized insurance, and through the expansion of public healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act also includes measures to cut the growth in healthcare spending in the US.

TIP: Sometimes people call the Affordable Care Act the Affordable Health Care Act. It’s an easy switch-up considering one of the main focuses of the law is to make healthcare (specifically health insurance) more affordable for more Americans. The proper name for the law is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obama Care for short.

What Does “Affordable” mean in the Affordable Care Act? The “affordable” part is denoting the many specific provisions that seek to make care more affordable in general: it denotes cost assistance (which makes coverage more affordable for those who qualify), it denotes coverage being affordable for those who were previously priced out of coverage, it denotes long-term cost curbing measures, it denotes new limits on maximums and cost sharing, it denotes exemptions for affordability, it denotes expanded benefits, kids staying on parents plans, closing the donut hole, expanding Medicaid, offering tax breaks to small businesses, etc. This doesn’t mean every family will see rates decrease under the ACA (in fact those without assistance have seen rates go up despite some curbing of cost growth). It just means that the act seeks to make coverage more affordable in general, so far a lot of the provisions are working, but there are still some sticking points.

I would suggest shopping around for plans, because it seems like your specific plan is seeing a rate hike. There may well be nothing you can do in your position, and that is unfair. But, there are lots of considerations here.

The Affordable Healthcare Act is The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Sometimes mistakenly called the Affordable Healthcare Act, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is the official name for the new healthcare law. Since that name is so long people usually refer to the law as the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare, or just say ACA, PPACA for short.

Ways the ACA Addresses Affordable Healthcare

The ACA addresses affordable healthcare and affordable health insurance in a number of ways including but not limited to:

• People with preexisting conditions can’t be charged more or denied treatment.

• There are no more annual or lifetime dollar limits on care.

• The marketplaces subsidize premium costs and out-of-pocket costs.

• A single risk pool is created giving the individual and small group markets the same buying power as large group markets.

• New rules and regulations stop insurance companies from making unjustified rate hikes.

• Women cannot be charged more than men.

• The amount insurers can discriminate price based on facts like age is restricted.

• All plans must have minimum benefits regardless of cost.

• Medicaid is expanded meaning free or low-cost insurance for more Americans.

• Young adults can stay on their parents plan until 26.

• Medicare gets a big overhaul meaning cheaper care for seniors and less costs for hospitals.

• Doctors for the most part will see their rates stay the same or, in the case of Medicaid doctors will see their rates increase.

• Hospitals are incentive to provide quality care over quantity care.

Connect for Health Colorado asked to repay 10 Million dollars

The office audited Connect for Health Colorado, a Denver-based organization also known as the state's health insurance marketplace that opened in 2013 and is considered the state's version of the federal Affordable Care Act.

According to the 29-page audit, the agency failed to follow federal guidelines for spending and documenting several grants administered by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Among the audit's findings: The agency improperly awarded bonuses to executives and employees; approved unallowed spending for certain social activities; required the use of personal credit cards for agency purchases; and failed to fully disclose possible conflicts of interest.

Furthermore, the audit shows the agency improperly approved spending for support and maintenance contracts and moved costs between grants to correct accounting errors.

Kevin Patterson, the agency's CEO, disagrees with the findings and is appealing them.

"Hopefully, they'll be able to say why they did things the way they did, and that the feds will agree with them on that," she said. "It's a new program so as guidelines come out, people interpret them the way they think they are, and the way they think it will best suit their state."

Herbertson said it's unclear how the situation will affect uninsured or under-insured people seeking health care coverage.

Critical Illness & Accident Insurance combined!

If you have an accident or are diagnosed with a critical illness, the last thing you want to worry about is money.  You have health coverage for your medical bills.  But other costs can pile up while your ar focusing on getting well. That's where the combination of critical illness and accident insurance can help!  Please call me for more information.  Agent Jo Anne Bly 719-434-2015

Premium Rate Increase for 2017

While the requested rate increases are concerning, the insurance division review sometimes results in rates being adjusted downward, said Adam Fox, director of strategic engagement for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. And consumers who qualify for financial assistance could find that the subsidies absorb any rate increase.

“These rates do highlight the need to grapple with underlying health care costs and get a handle on those,” Fox said. “Health insurers can do things to control costs and we think they should arguably be doing more. But they’re not the only piece of the puzzle.”

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Service said in a statement Monday that proposed premium changes from preliminary rate filings do not capture what marketplace consumers actually pay. Last year, the average monthly premium for people with HealthCare.gov coverage getting tax credits increased $4 from $102 to $106 per month.

Colorado’s division of insurance has begun to study health care costs and the feasibility of shifting the state to a single geographic rating area, as directed by a law passed in the last legislative session.

Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”, was developed to help individuals access affordable health insurance through a health insurance marketplace where Americans can purchase federally regulated and subsidized health insurance during open enrollment.

In order to qualify, you must sign up during Open Enrollment but could still be eligible if you had a qualifying life event such as changing jobs, getting married/divorced, moving, etc. We’ll help determine if you are eligible and find you the best plan in any case.

Finding the right plan can be difficult. Each plan has its pros and cons, especially considering how costs can greatly range - depending on the plan's deductibles, co-pays, premiums, provider networks, to name a few.

ObamaCare-Plans.com works with dozens of health insurance carriers and brokers, making it easy for you to compare several health insurance options. To get started, enter your zip code and tell us about yourself. If qualified for an Affordable Care Act health plan, you can work with all of the health carriers listed to compare plans and prices. Once you provide us with the information required on our form, we attempt to match you with appropriate insurance agents, brokers, carriers or other service providers to help you acquire the best health insurance.

ACA News Federal government extends Individual 2016 reporting deadline

ACA News: Federal government extends Individual 2016 reporting deadline

December 12, 2016

The federal government has extended the Affordable Care Act (ACA or health care reform law) reporting deadline to give employers more time to meet the requirements.

Previously, employers who provided self-funded coverage had until the end of January 2017 to send a statement —tax form 1095-C — with parts l, ll and lll completed – to all employees eligible for coverage in 2016. With the extension, employers now have until March 2 to get this information to their workers.

The extension also applies to health insurance companies facing similar reporting requirements. So for fully insured groups, Anthem plans to begin sending out tax form 1095-B as originally scheduled, with the goal of having all forms mailed by the end of February.

Impact on individual taxpayers 
In some cases, taxpayers may not receive a Form 1095-B or Form 1095-C by the time they are ready to file their 2016 tax returns. Under these circumstances, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will accept other forms of documentation for proof of insurance coverage, including:

• Insurance cards
• Explanation of benefits
• W-2 or payroll statements reflecting insurance deductions
• Records or advance payments of the premium tax credit and other statements indicating that the taxpayer or a member of his or her family, had health benefits

Individual taxpayers will not need to send the IRS proof of health coverage. However, any documentation should be kept with other tax records.

Why reporting is required
The purpose of health law reporting is to show the IRS that affordable coverage was offered to employees. It also shows which employees and dependents are covered, and for how many months out of the year. As you know, the ACA requires all Americans to have health care coverage or face a penalty. The IRS helps enforce this part of the law. To do so, it requires certain tax forms as proof of coverage.

The IRS can also use these forms to track who does or doesn’t have coverage, what companies are or aren’t offering coverage to workers, and levy penalties accordingly. These forms became mandatory with the 2015 tax year. And reporting is required in 2017 for the 2016 coverage year.

More about this can be found within the IRS web site.  You can also refer to our Employer Mandate Fact Sheet and our Minimum Essential Coverage Fact Sheet on reporting.

Colorado Important Dates & Open Enrooment

We’re almost halfway through and every measure points to our most successful Open Enrollment ever. That’s not to minimize the challenges we currently face in the public policy arena. There will be debates at the state and federal level on the future of exchanges and healthcare reform. As a state-based Marketplace formed to provide a “Colorado solution,” we will be keeping an eye on both levels and we take note that some of the talk in Congress now suggests turning more authority over to state governments.

This process can be expected to take time but the shape of policy changes should start to become clearer when state and federal legislative bodies begin meeting. Here are some dates you might want to be aware of:

• Congress reconvenes Jan 3, 2017.
• The Colorado Legislature begins work Jan. 11, 2017.
• The president is inaugurated Jan. 20, 2017.
• Health insurance companies in Colorado normally file their 2018 individual and small group plans and rates in May for the following year.