Analysis of Employee Health Insurance in the US

The United States government has adopted into law a healthcare overhaul bill that mandates that all businesses, large or small, must provide health insurance for employees

Identify problems(s) inherent in this issue

     Being able to get quality health care amenities is so significant for supporting and preserving health, preventing disease and achieving health for all Americans. This economic policy topic proposal that I will be discussing will be about healthcare and how the United States government has adopted into law a healthcare overhaul bill that mandates that all businesses, large or small, must provide health insurance for employees. Healthcare charges have intensified over the past decade mainly because surges in quality have increased both the demand and the marginal cost of providing these goods and services. (Anderson, pg. 39, 2008) This subject today hits home for me personally as my family and I need coverage for all our healthcare needs as well as everyone today. We have had many personal family concerns where my personal healthcare needs became over bearing with medical bills and acceptance of certain doctors to maintain my health moving forward. It has proven with the help from my companies support and providing a certain level of benefits I would never have been able to get better and my personal healthcare needs would have been last in line. It is often that in economics you have to weigh the marginal costs against marginal benefits as in my decisions to pay higher premiums for the healthcare myself and my family needs.

Briefly discuss the background/history

     A little background in the topic is that you have to ask yourself why do companies even have to provide coverage to employees and when did this come into effect? The system or government has intended to limit companies liberty to raise wages and therefore to compete on the basis of pay for workers. The actual outcome of the act was that employers began to offer remunerations as reasons instead. All of a sudden all businesses were in the health insurance business. Now what changed? The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was created in 2010. In other words it was called Obamacare. (Rook, 2015) The Affordable Care Act contains two provisions that will drive billions into state economies. The recent development of Medicaid to cover the very poor parts of the people began under the poverty level and subsidies for very low to medium income. This in turn had the public to buy health insurance for themselves and their families. These necessities are funded for by reductions to Medicare spending and new tax laws for companies. (Price & Saltzman, 2013)

Identify at least 2 economic elements reflected in the issue

     There are many problems that this issue faces. In retrospect employer’s healthcare policies don’t provide the entire care all the time which include very high payments and out of pocket expenditures which are still an inherent issue with this new reform. Recognizing the concerns in this this topic is so significant that we need support.  (Bivens, 2018) Two economic elements that are affected by the new healthcare transformation and why businesses now need to deliver coverage for workers would be new tax laws and increase in product price which would be a reduction in premium prices in the employer-sponsored plans. Plans have risen rapidly over the past two decades and we need a resolution fast. The penalties of no employer to provide insurance to the employee would be penalization for the individual of upwards of 2.5% on their yearly taxes. (Caldwell, 2019) A second economic element would be this rapid growth in the cost of healthcare which has put stress on current incomes and increased wages. This growth of spending has not yet reiterated a better quality of care for us but spending on benefits is significantly higher in the US over other countries. (Bivens, 2018)

 Detail the status of the problem and identify stakeholders affected by the issue

     In my proposal I will be informing the public on why this is as important to our culture and prosperity as a working adult. There are so many people in this country with no health insurance. The significance to be covered and to be able to be helped when we need it is just as important to us to live the best we possibly can. These numbers are terrible and astounding. According to the census in 2018 there are 28 million with no insurance and the threat of it getting worse is very high. (Berchick, 2018) We as a country and individual need to be prepared for the worst case scenario and be able to provide insurance for all. Our standards of living depend on the productivity and efficiencies of these supply and demand factors. Providing a quantity of goods and services including healthcare through employers can produce a higher quality living. (Anderson, 2008) The social and economic factors play a major influence in why many folks don’t have healthcare coverage.  Employers must be able to help and pay the burden of people who don’t have insurance will be far more detrimental to companies that don’t as they will have to pay penalties for ones they don’t cover. To this day we still don’t know ramifications if any on Obamacare and how it will affect the healthcare industry. In addition I will identify the issue, give background on the concern, and identify economic elements incorporated with the changes in employment assisted healthcare.

References

• al, D.A. E. Contemporary Economics for Managers. [devry]. Retrieved from   https://devry.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781429223140/
• Price, C., & Saltzman, E. (2013). The Economic Impact of the Affordable Care Act
• Berchick, E. (2018, September 12). Most Uninsured Were Working-Age Adults.
• Retrieved September 8, 2019, from census.gov website: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/09/who-are-the-uninsured.html
• Bivens, J. (2018, October 10). The unfinished business of health reform. Retrieved September 8, 2019, from Economic Policy Institute website:  https://www.epi.org/publication/health-care-report/
• Caldwell, M. (2019, March 21). What Happens If I Don’t Sign Up for Health
• Insurance? Retrieved September 8, 2019, from thebalance.com website:
• https://www.thebalance.com/
• what-happens-if-i-dont-sign-up-for-health-insurance-2385909
• Price, C., & Saltzman, E. (2013). The Economic Impact of the Affordable Care Act
• on Arkansas. Retrieved September 8, 2019, from rand.org website:
•      https://www.rand.org/pubs/periodicals/health-quarterly/issues/v3/n1/01.html
• Rook, D. (2015, August 17). How We Got to Now: A Brief History of
       Employer-Sponsored Healthcare. Retrieved September 8, 2019, from
       griffinbenefits.com website: https://www.griffinbenefits.com/
       employeebenefitsblog/history-of-employer-sponsored-healthcare