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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a bill in the United States. It was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. It is also known as Obamacare.

Parts of the Act
There are many parts to the health care law.

Children
Children can use health insurance from their parents until they are 26 years old. Children under 19 years old have to be given good health insurance by health insurance companies, even if they are very sick. If a health insurance company stops giving someone health care, then that person can ask the company to reconsider their choice to stop giving care.

There is no longer a limit on how long a person can get health care from a company. If an insurance company wants to make people pay more for their coverage, they have to say why they are doing this to the public. The amount that a person pays for health care, called “premiums,” must now be spent by the insurance companies only on health care. This money cannot be spent on other things, like paying workers.

Health care that goes to preventing sickness is now free for many people and they do not have to pay for it. People can also get more of a choice for who their doctor is under their health care plan. People can also get emergency health care at hospitals that are not covered by their health insurance.

Individual Mandate
People who do not have health insurance will have to pay a tax to the government until they get health insurance. This tax is called an individual mandate. In 2014, each person under 18 will pay $47.50. Each person over 18 who does not have insurance will pay $95 or one percent of the amount of money that their family makes in one year from working (if this amount is greater than $95). The amount that people will have to pay if they do not have health insurance will go up every year until 2016. In 2015, each person under 19 will pay $162.50. Each person over 18 will pay $325 or two percent of the amount of money their family makes one year (if this amount is more than #325). In 2016, every person under 18 will pay $347.50. Each person over 18 will pay the greater amount: $695 or 2.5 percent of the amount of money their family makes that year.

There are many people who do not have to pay this tax, even if they do not have health insurance. The government decided that people who have very little money and who cannot get health insurance for free will not have to pay the tax.

Effect on Companies and Workers
In 2015, companies that have more than 50 workers who work more than 30 hours a week will have a responsibility to give these people health insurance. Companies who have less than 50 workers will not have a responsibility to give these workers health insurance. The law also makes a “health insurance exchange,” which is a place where people can shop for health insurance. This exchange was put on the internet on October 1st. If people want health insurance by January 1st, 2014, they have to [register] for health insurance on this exchange by December 15th, 2013. If they register after December 15th and they do not get health insurance by January 1st, then they will probably have to pay the tax from the government. People can buy insurance on the internet on https://www.healthcare.gov/. If you have problems registering for health insurance on this exchange, then you can call a number and talk to someone that works for the government who will help you. This number is 1-800-318-2596.

Health Insurance Marketplace
If the company that you work for gives you insurance and you are not happy with it or how much it costs, then you can choose to not take that insurance and to buy insurance on the health insurance marketplace. The Health Insurance Marketplace is a website where people can buy health insurance. Each health insurance that is on this marketplace has to pay for a person’s [prescription] medicine, [emergency] health care, maternity care, [mental] health care, rehabilitation, and many other things. Maternity care is given to pregnant women to take care of their children.

Effect on Companies
People were concerned that companies would not hire new workers or would make people work for less than 30 hours in one week so that the companies would not have to pay for the health insurance. There have been some stories of this happening, but there are no statistics about this.

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/11/231103865/faq-how-obamacare-affects-employers-and-how-they-re-responding

Medicaid Expansion
There were many states in the United States that refused to give more money to Medicaid, and the Supreme Court decided that they did not have to do so.

Government Shutdown
In October 2013, the government stopped working for sixteen days because people who work for the United States Congress could not agree on how to pay for the Affordable Care Act. This is called a government shutdown. Over 800,000 people who work for the government were not paid during this time and the government had to pay them back after the shutdown ended. Republicans, one of the two main political groups in the United States political system, do not want the government to pay money for the Affordable Care Act and this led to the shutdown of the government.

Death Panels
In August of 2009, Sarah Palin, a person who used to be a candidate for vice president, told the news that the Affordable Care Act would create “death panels.” She said that these death panels would be a group of people who would decide whether or not an older person was to receive health care or whether they should die. Many news companies and people who do research have shown that what she said is not true.