Health Care Reform and Business

Does anyone employed really understand how this new health care reform will influence his or her employer and ultimately his or her employment? There are millions of individuals who are currently unemployed because the economy is spiraling downward. When you add the insertion of this new health care reform into the equation, it is a disaster in the making.

When a new employee began with a corporation, the one main asset was the offering of group health insurance. In this way, every individual was enrolled into a low cost health insurance plan. Each individual would receive basic health insurance assistance with any of the expenses incurred during the duration of the annual policy.

Many today believe that if employers were not offering health insurance coverage as an incentive there would be less individuals dependent on the corporation. Each individual would have to decide to purchase his or her own health insurance policy. The benefit to this would be a higher annual salary because your employer is no longer paying for your low cost health insurance.

Would this have been so bad? Now employers are scrambling to decide which is better. Do they continue to offer health insurance coverage to their employees? Do they ask their employees to pay more out of pocket toward the corporation-funded health insurance? Does the employer now drop the added expense of health insurance, leaving the employee to locate an annual health insurance policy on his or her own?

All business, large and small will have much to consider before the next year begins because they will have to give their employees a chance. The health insurance providers will also have to be prepared for the onslaught of individuals wanting to enroll in one of the affordable health insurance plans. In the future, as the next year unfolds there will be three most likely behavioral effects to consider.

1. Most individuals are not aware of the new health care reform laws and behavior changes are not on the agenda.
2. Individuals who currently have health insurance coverage will drop the coverage when they realize the new cost that is being attached.
3. Individuals without health insurance coverage will opt to pay the penalty fee that the Internal Revenue Service will levy. However, this will still be less costly than purchasing a government-run health insurance plan.
4. Lifetime caps on medical health care is now eliminated so any individual can purchase a low cost health insurance plan at any time and receive the same medical health care  as one who maintained a health insurance policy.