Obamacare Fee of $63 to Offset Cost of Covering Uninsured
Reports emerging on Tuesday reveal that as part of the President's health care law, a new $63 fee will be issued for everyone already covered in order to help cover the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions.
As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, insurers will need to cover anyone who applies for insurance, even those with pre-existing conditions. As a result, the Obama administration allowed for certain fees and taxes to be implemented in order to fund the expansive health care law.
According to government officials, the majority of the money raised through this new fee will be allocated exclusively to the Health and Human Services Department to set up a fund to help insurers offset the cost of covering formerly uninsured individuals. As part of the new plan, insurers will be forced to cover anyone regardless of health beginning on the first day of 2014.
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The Obama administration has stated that the new health care law is "intended to help millions of Americans purchase affordable health insurance, reduce unreimbursed usage of hospital and other medical facilities by the uninsured and thereby lower medical expenses and premiums for all."
But many are slow to endorse such a measure given the turbulent and uncertain financial future for America and the strain it will put on employers.
"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies will) be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," Chantel Sheaks, an employee benefits lawyer, told the Associated Press.
According to the Affordable Care Act, the fee will be levied on the estimated 190 million Americans and employers that are currently covering or covered by health insurance. The fee will be issued on an annual basis and is expected to raise $25 billion in 2014.
The initial $63 fee is only for the first year and then gets progressively less over the following years until it is phased out by 2017.
