Posts Tagged ‘affordable care act’

Affordable Care Act- the 80/20 Rule


03 Jul

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Finances, Healthcare, Politics | Comments Off

You may hate parts of the Affordable Care Act. You may think the individual mandate is unconstitutional, despite the Supreme Court. (Lots of people think this about income taxes.) But there are parts of the ACA that everyone can like.

One part of the act you should like- the 80/20 rule. This rule says your insurance company must spend at least 80% of your premium on healthcare costs. Only 20% can go toward administration. The company must make visible exactly what those percentages are and issue you a rebate if they don’t spend enough of your premium on medical costs.

Affordable Care Act Upheld


29 Jun

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Healthcare, Politics | Comments Off

Yesterday’s ruling by the Supreme Court upholding most of the Affordable Care Act was a momentous one. Legal precedent wise, the number of opinions, and which Justice signed on to what, is a much murkier bag. For precedent purposes, it is going to take some time to parse exactly what this ruling means. It may or may not be a win for Democrats. It may or may not be a loss for Republicans.

But for those people who, as a friend put it yesterday, just want the option of being able to pay for insurance, it is a major win.

Healthcare = Happiness


10 Jul

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Healthcare, Politics | Comments Off

Recently the results of the first year of an ongoing study about the effects of providing people with state run healthcare were released. This is run through a lottery that allowed some people who normally wouldn’t be eligible to apply for Medicaid.

Short term findings: Providing health coverage cost the state more. People given coverage accessed preventative care but still used ERs just as often. However, those people took fewer sick days from work and reported greater overall happiness.

It’s a promising start, and I look forward to long term results, when I suspect costs will start to go down.

100 Words On

topics explored in exactly 100 words