5 Ways the Affordable Care Act Will Give You Peace of Mind

The Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as "Obamacare," is a health care overhaul that enacts significant changes in the way Americans get and maintain their health insurance. Currently, many people receive health insurance through their employers, use government-sponsored health insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, or purchase general health or serious illness insurance in the private market. Unfortunately, this structure has led to a rise in costs that makes it unaffordable for approximately 55 million Americans who are uninsured. The chief objective of the Affordable Care Act is to bring this figure down using a more collectivist model. The following are a few reasons why this fact should give you peace of mind.

1. Medicare is maintained in the new healthcare system. As it stands, Medicare in its current state will be preserved mostly with increased taxes on the highest earners in the country, which are the single filers making $200,000 and joint filers making $250,000 per year or more. Cuts in payments to Medicare providers and the elimination of the Medicare Advantage program will also help to pay for it.

2. For those in the lower income brackets, Medicaid will be expanded. The Medicaid program is designed for people who couldn't otherwise afford health insurance. In the coming years, the states that enact Medicaid expansion will increase the upper limit for recipients to 133 percent of the poverty line. The shift will help to close the insurance gap for the in-betweeners who cannot afford private health insurance but don't currently qualify for Medicaid.

3. The new health care system will establish exchanges that make it less costly to purchase private market insurance. Households up to 400 percent of the poverty line will have their premiums subsidized, paid for by a requirement for taxpayers to have health insurance known as the Individual Mandate. While this law is politically controversial, it will make private market health insurance much more attainable for middle and lower income families.

4. Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance for preexisting conditions will be available to everyone. The fact that private insurers often deny or drop coverage for people with preexisting conditions has become a highly publicized issue. But one of the key stipulations of the Affordable Care Act is to eliminate this all too common problem, making it illegal for insurance companies to discriminate based on the health of the person seeking coverage.

5. On the whole, it is anticipated that the Affordable Care Act will reduce the number of uninsured Americans from 55 million to 25 million. That's an immediate reduction of 54.55 percent. In essence, your odds of being at risk and uninsured will be cut in half. Seen independently of political persuasion or personal beliefs, this fact may make the average person much more comfortable with their own health coverage situation.