Obama Care (as the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Acts are popularly known) makes it the law that high-quality health insurance must be made available to all Americans, and that insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate in enrollment because of sex, age, pre-existing medical conditions and cannot cancel benefits because someone gets sick.
This is a huge change in the insurance industry, and insurance companies have complied, reworking policies to expand benefits and decrease premiums. Through Obama Care, new policies will be made available during a brief “open enrollment” period in on-line health insurance marketplaces. In California, the site is Covered California where individuals and businesses can sign up for coverage between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014.
Despite confusing media stories about attempts in the US Congress to change or do away with the law, Dabboussi Insurance Services stresses that the new insurance is available, and people who have not been able to get health insurance before, can now.
Unfortunately, doubts sown in news and social media about Obama Care have distracted many from the fact that for their health benefit payments to start January 1, 2014 on insurance bought through the marketplace, they must make the purchase between October 1, 2013 and December 15, 2013.
This means that there is a 76-day window from the beginning of October to the middle of December to take advantage of open enrollment in a new, high-quality health insurance plan.
Covered California will feature a range of policies, ranked platinum, gold, silver or bronze, according to amount and type of coverage, and the cost of premiums and co-payments.
Employers who don’t already provide health care insurance for their employees will be required to make it available beginning in 2015. Some companies that already offer insurance to their workers will be allowed to continue to offer older policies that can contain caps on yearly and lifetime benefits.
Uninsured and under-insured Americans, for example those who are ensured through work but have limited benefits, may take advantage of the open enrollment.
Beginning in 2014, Americans that do not have health insurance as of March 15 will be paying in to the system anyway, through tax penalties amounting to 1% of their annual income, or $95, whichever is larger.
However, many individuals and small businesses will be eligible for federal tax credits which can offset the cost of premiums and co-payments. Some lower and middle income Americans will even qualify for direct subsidies, making insurance even more affordable.
The Supreme Court has affirmed this as a legal tax, and the law is rolling forward.
Though some members of Congress are pushing for complete or partial repeal of Obama Care, the law stands. People who could not get health insurance before, now can.
Dabboussi Insurance Services recommends that anyone who wants to make sense of the law and take advantage of the insurance and tax benefits should consult an independent insurance broker . As someone who is familiar with but free to shop around within the entire health insurance trade, an independent broker is especially suited to help clients wade through the market place options.
Dabboussi Insurance Services, owned by Mr. Saffouh Dabboussi, has been licensed in the state of California to transact medical insurance since 1996. Their client base stretches across Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego counties.
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