Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act
My organization’s best plan to purchase health insurance is to use the employer’s health insurance plan. This is the way to go because it is less expensive to pay for this plan than the individual health insurance plan (O’Brien E, 2003). Also, the employers will not have to go through all the trouble of looking for the plan options. More importantly, the taxable income is reduced as the employee’s contribution is subjected to pre-tax.
The health economics that would factor in the plan is the ability of the workers to access medical care in cases of chronic illnesses easily. Since it is cheaper to pay for it, individuals can make other lifestyle choices, such as purchasing their insurances through their employers directly (Cooper &Vistnes, 2003). Small businesses have often faced challenges affording health insurance plans. However, the Affordable Care Act has made the employer-funded benefits easy as it has reduced the gap between the large and the small businesses.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed to surge the number of Americans who can access health insurance. When choosing the health insurance plan, it is important to note that if I fail to provide the employee coverage system, the organization is likely to face heavy fines (Cooper &Vistnes, 2003). The ACA allows firms that have less than 100 employees with coverage to increase access to the health insurance plan.
It is also important to note that with the ACA, the employer-based system will allow the organization to increase the rate at which they provide the offers. This is so because employees tend to change their specifications, and as a result, there will be an increase in the rate at which employees demand insurance(O’Brien E, 2003). Also, it is a good thing that the ACA favors small businesses such that they do not suffer from the huge costs associated with purchasing insurance plans.
Advantages of Purchasing Health Insurance for Employees
Several advantages accrue to an organization if they purchase health insurance for their workers, but two will be discussed. The first advantage is that employers are likely to benefit from the employer-based coverage, which is less expensive than the individual plan. Also, the contributions that the company makes will enable them to enjoy subsidized taxes (O’Brien E, 2003).The second advantage of providing health insurance is that a company that offers excellent insurance plans will attract employees. This implies that the company will have a pool of qualified workers to choose from, and on the other hand, the workers will enjoy favorable plans, hence mutual benefits to the two parties.
Disadvantages of Purchasing Health Insurance for Employees
On the other hand, there are existing drawbacks when employers opt to purchase the insurance plan for their employees. Firstly, small enterprises are disadvantaged compared to larger firms because the administration costs are high, and small firms will have to spend more (Cooper &Vistnes, 2003). The second disadvantage is the continued increase in the cost of health insurance over the years. This means that most organizations, especially the small ones, will face difficulty trying to purchase expensive health insurance. The constant rise of the insurance will make it hard for them to make annual financial plans.
References
Cooper, P. F., &Vistnes, J. (2003). Workers’ decisions to take-up offered health insurance coverage: assessing the importance of out-of-pocket premium costs. Medical care, 41(7 Suppl), III35–III43. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.MLR.0000076050.73075.51
O’Brien, E. (2003). Employers benefit from workers’ health insurance.The Milbank Quarterly, 81(1), 5–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.00037