Despite the mostly partisan, love-it-or-hate-it debate that the Affordable Care Act ignited everywhere from Capitol Hill to your family dinner table, many polls show most Americans believe they have yet to feel any effects.
But experts say that’s because, for all the political banter, many major overhauls in the new law had just come into effect and many more haven’t yet.
A recent Pew Research Center survey found that around 63 percent of Americans say they have felt no effect from the Affordable Health Care Act.
Polls change after the exchanges open and those without insurance are able to purchase subsidized insurance, said Miranda Motter of the Ohio Association of Health Plans.
“There are and will be lots of changes in the marketplace. We’ll start to see those on Oct. 1,” Motter said.
For those interested in learning more about how to enroll in the marketplace and purchase health care, Athens County Libraries and Ohio Association of Foodbanks will be hosting information sessions throughout October and early November.
James Hill, assistant director of Athens County Libraries, said trained professionals should be on hand to “help people make decisions without making decisions for them … Staff from the Foodbank should be able to point people in a specific direction.”
For those who enroll after Dec. 15, the gap between purchasing coverage and coverage beginning changes.
If one were to enroll during the first 15 days of the month, coverage would begin the next month. If one enrolls between the 16th and the end of the month, coverage would begin the first day of the second following month.
For instance, if one enrolls Jan. 12, coverage will begin Feb. 1. If enrollment occurs Jan. 21, coverage will begin March 1.
Open enrollment ends March 31. After that, those who have not purchased health insurance will have to pay a fee.
Since more people will have insurance, the goal is to spread the risk out over the entire pool of insured, Motter said.
“I think the biggest concern is, and this relates to the individual mandate, really wanting to make sure there are younger, healthier individuals purchasing insurance to spread out the risk,” she said.
Health insurance companies are required to collect information this year pertaining to financial relations between themselves and providers of health goods and services.
The insurance companies must submit the report by March 31, 2014.
When the bill was passed, it immediately prohibited insurance companies from denying coverage to those under 19 because of a pre-existing condition, but come 2014 that will extend to those of all ages.
Down the road, “Obamacare” will increase funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 2015. It will permit private insurance companies to sell policies across state borders so long as they are a part of a “health care choice compact” in 2016 and tax insurers of employer-sponsored health plans who charge excessively high prices in 2018.
ld311710@ohiou.edu
@LucasDaprile
