Affordable care act – Dispatches From The Front

Many questions surround the future of former President Barack Obama’s health care law, the Affordable Care Act. The most immediate is, “Will the insurance I bought during Open Enrollment work in 2017?” (Yes.) Others are more far-reaching, such as, “What happened to the health-insurance shopping utopia we were promised?” (Well, about that …)

These issues obviously affect individuals, but they affect employers, too. Businesses that once might have planned to send employees to an individual marketplace for coverage now could be questioning whether they should continue (or even begin) offering health insurance as a benefit. If you’re looking for answers, you’ll find them only after you ask the right questions. Here are a few to pose, based on your company’s current status.

Two opposing court rulings issued Tuesday sowed confusion about whether 4.7 million Americans can keep their Obamacare subsidies.

A federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., ruled Tuesday morning that individuals cannot use tax credits or subsidies to buy health insurance on the federal exchange, healthcare.gov.

A few hours later, another set of appeal judges in Richmond, Va., unanimously upheld the ability for people applying for coverage on the federal exchange to receive subsidies.

The Obama administration said it plans to appeal the D.C. court ruling.

For Americans receiving subsidies, nothing will change until the legal court battle ends. People in the 14 states and Washington D.C. that run their own exchanges would not be affected by these rulings.

Subsidies are key to the Affordable Care Act’s success: About 87% of those who signed up for Obamacare plans on healthcare.gov received them.

Tag: Affordable care act

Should You Still Offer Health Insurance as a Benefit? | Entrepreneur

Split decisions on Obamacare subsidies: The impact on 4.7 million Americans | CnnMoney