Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act

Health Insurance and the Affordable Care Act
Student:
Professor:
Course title:
Date:
Health Insurance and Affordable Care Act
Given that the organization has 50 employees, one plan that I would use to purchase health insurance for the company is the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). In essence, small business organizations – those with fifty or less full-time-equivalent employees (FTEs) – can buy healthcare coverage through a government-run insurance marketplace that was set up specially for them, that is, the SHOP (Kitces et al., 2013). FTE is understood as a worker working at least an average of thirty hours for each week, computed on a monthly basis. SHOP marketplace helps business organizations to offer health insurance to their staff members. Since my organization 50 workers, SHOP is an apt plan. The extent to which employee lifestyle choices and health economics factor into the chosen plan is that for the employer to receive Small Business Wellness Grants, a number of requirements have to be fulfilled. One of the requirements is that the employer has to design a program which includes initiatives to alter unhealthy behaviors as well as lifestyle choices. The program that the employer designs must also include workplace policies to promote increased physical activity, healthy eating and healthy lifestyles (Fontenot, 2013).
The implication of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on my decision to buy insurance is that there is no penalty for business organizations that have 50 or fewer staff members. However, employers who have fifty or more workers could face payments in 2015. It is notable that the Employer Shared Responsibility (ESR) payment is basically a new prerequisite under the ACA directive for some organizations, and its implementation will commence in 2015. It would be applicable solely to businesses with fifty or more FTE staff members that do not provide health coverage or whose health coverage does not satisfy specific minimum standards (F...