obamacare health care

hey, everybody. it's me, ben. and today's question isspecific to the united states. how does the affordable careact work, and what does it do? although its full nameis the patient protection and affordable careact, you've probably heard it just calledthe affordable care act, or obamacare, or the aca. it's called obamacare becausepresident barack obama signed

it into law on march 23, 2010. but what does it actually do? let's look at the basics. health care in the united stateshas some serious long term issues. first, there are millionsof uninsured people. second, people whodo have insurance tend to pay morefor it than they would in othercomparable countries.

the aca aims to fix these issuesby making affordable health care available tomore americans. i mean, that's agood idea, right? to do this, the act makessome pretty big changes. but although the act makesome big changes to insurance, these changes phasein over time instead of happening all at once. a lot of things willalso stay the same. for example, if you already havehealth insurance that you're

happy with, you cankeep it under this law. and children under the age of 26can stay on their parents plan. if you already havemedicaid coverage, then you're goingto stay on that too. or you can if you wish. in fact, manystates are expanding medicaid to cover more people. so now, let's talkabout what's changing. there are several things.

first there's this thingcalled the individual mandate. most americans willbe required to have some form of health insurance. this is a sweeping change fora country with an estimated 30 million uninsured residents. but how do you enforcesomething like that? by 2014, everyonewithout health insurance will need to pay a small fee. during that year, for instance,the fee is going to be $95 per

adult, $47.50 per child. the maximum a familywill pay in 2014 is $285. now, those numbers are over thewhole year, not month by month. to make sure that people canfind affordable insurance, the aca creates what are calledhealth insurance marketplaces. these are virtual spaces runby the federal government, or by your state,where customers can see different plansand prices offered by insurance providers.

so ultimately, thismight allow you to qualify for lowerpremiums, depending on your income andyour family size. and regardless of whatkind of insurance you have, insurers will no longerbe able to deny or revoke coverage forpreexisting conditions. and women won't have to pay morethan men for insurance either. finally, right? insurance will alsocover preventative care.

so this would bestuff like mammograms, and checkups, andscreenings, and so on. then there's the 80/20 rule. insurers will generally berequired to spend at least 80% of the money theyget from premiums on-- wait for it--actual health care. if your insurer spendstoo much on overhead, then you're goingto receive a rebate. finally, the laws also requirecompanies to publicly justify

rate increases of over 10%. and they are banned fromimposing lifetime dollar limits on benefits. this act also affectsyour employer, whether you work for a largecompany or a smaller company. a smaller business, onewith less than 50 employees, can visit the small businesshealth options program, or-- get this-- shop. right?

a government loves an acronym--to compare and purchase affordable health plans. additionally, someof these businesses might be eligiblefor tax credits if they get coveragethrough shop. the rules are a littlebit different for bigger businesses. in 2015, they haveto make what's called an employer sharedresponsibility payment if they

don't provide insurance meetinga minimum value standard, or if one of theiremployees gets a better deal in the individualmarketplace. since states are implementingthe act in different ways, it's very importantfor you to check on the specific plansof your home state. so that's it. if you'd like to learn morespecifics about the affordable care act, check outwww.healthcare.gov

for more information. and hey, while you're online? you can always like this videoif you're into liking stuff. if you want to learn more abouteverything from light sabers to the speed of light, youcan subscribe to our videos. and if you want to see somemore videos like right now, and you're just thinking, iwant to see some more videos. then, we've got threeon the side over here. and we'll see you next time.