Obamacare Reforms Decoded for 2013

Though the health care reforms began nearly three years ago, there has been some confusion regarding them. This is mainly attributed to the fact that many mandates have been released recently, some revised repeatedly and a plethora of final rules have been published. Among this increasing crowd of jargon, it seems that people are getting confused between the basic terminology that should be remembered to understand the role of a state exchange, exchange enrollment eligibility, creation of private health exchanges and employee benefits management. The following will help you understand this segment of the Obamacare health reforms in an easier manner: 
Affordable Care ActThis is also called the ACA or the Health Care Law. Actually, this is a shortened nomenclature derived from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the PPACA). The term Obamacare came into being as these healthcare reforms were being undertaken for the first time under the Obama administration. Since then, the President has himself embraced this term and even used it as a part of his campaign that helped the Rule become a law in March 2010.
Employer MandateEmployee benefit management will take a new, improved course as a part of the ACA. The federal mandate insists that companies employing 50 or more workers need to pay a penalty or a kind of fee if they are not providing employer insurance to employees and these employees are gaining from subsidized healthcare coverage. Anticipating the changes that will be made in the employee benefits management, many of the insurance company software vendors have started developing healthcare software systems that will help the employer to buy insurance or group insurance for the employees, manage their coverage and seek tax credits. This is a rather critical since the present insurance software solutions don’t address this requirement, making it very difficult for the employer to view all the available group insurance packages available and managing employee benefits coverage takes a lot of time and effort.
Individual MandateThis mandate is more like a strict rule where everybody in the United States is required to have health insurance. It should be remembered that gaining insurance in 2013 and onwards would become a lot easier with the creation of state and federal exchanges. Even the established and bigger insurance companies are developing their private health exchange platforms, assuming that once the consumer gets used to buying from the marketplace exchange, having an exchange-like healthcare enrollment program would be demanded. Every individual needs to have health insurance, whether it is bought or provided inside or outside the realm of state or private exchange. For instance, the individual can be insured under Medicare or Medicaid, have employer insurance bought from the Shop exchange or buy personal insurance outside the exchange marketplace. Not having health insurance means being fined by the IRS.