Examining how health reform will affect you

Julie A. Palm

Julie Palm, editor in chief

I doubt that anyone in the United States is thrilled with the Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care reform bill that President Barack Obama signed into law during his first term.

Many progressives and liberals would have preferred a single-payer system like Medicare that would have been extended to people of all ages. Conservatives favored more market-based solutions, such as allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines.

Regardless of how you feel about what has become known as “Obamacare,” with the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the law’s major provisions in a ruling last summer and Obama winning re-election in November, the new health care law is here to stay.

The Affordable Care Act is being implemented slowly and many of the biggest changes—including the establishment of statewide health insurance exchanges—come online in 2014.

Providing health insurance to employees is one of the largest personnel-related costs for companies of all sizes. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that annual premiums for employer-provided health insurance for a family cost about $16,000 in 2012, up 4% from 2011. Many employers, even small ones, foot the bill for much of that cost, requiring employees to pay only a portion of insurance premiums.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time for you to think about how the various new provisions of the health care law will impact your business and employees. In our February cover story, frequent BedTimes contributor Phillip M. Perry provides some guidance, particularly for smaller companies, and offers a number of resources to help you navigate the new health care terrain.

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