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What IS Obamacare?

 BY JESSICA WEISS

Under30CEO.com

As of 2013 there are around 44 million Americans who are unable to get health insurance. The majority of uninsured are poor working families and those who simply cannot afford health insurance. Looking at all the debate going on today over the Affordable Care Act, I thought it would be necessary to make sure everyone’s on the same page and understands the basics of Obamacare. Original: http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php ObamaCare is the unofficial name for The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was signed into law on March 23, 2010. It is a national health care plan designed to reform the American health care system. It’s goals are to provide more Americans access to affordable insurance, improve the quality of health care, regulate the health insurance industry, and reduce health care spending in the US. What is the ObamaCare Health Insurance Marketplace? The health insurance marketplace (also known as an exchange) is an online price comparison website where Americans can shop for insurance that starts as soon as Jan 1st, 2014 and receive cost assistance for lower premiums (specified amount of payment required periodically by an insurer to provide coverage under a given insurance plan for a defined period of time), reduced out-of-pocket costs, or even Medicaid. Each State has their own health insurance marketplace. President Obama explains that most of the 85% of Americans with health insurance are already experiencing the bulk of what the program has to offer and have been for the past 3 years. The individual mandate (requiring individuals by law to purchase health insurance), employer mandate (requirement that all businesses with over 50 full-time equivalent employees provide health insurance for their full-time employees) and health insurance marketplace will affect a percentage of uninsured Americans or those who don’t like their insurance. What Does ObamaCare Do? • ObamaCare eliminates pre-existing conditions and gender discrimination meaning no one can be charged more or be dropped from their health insurance coverage for health or gender related reasons. • ObamaCare gives tens of millions of low-income and middle-income Americans access to health care by providing discounts (subsidies) through the Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as a Health Insurance Exchange). • ObamaCare helps to ensure that health care coverage is available to any legal U.S. resident who cannot otherwise obtain “quality” healthcare through their employer. • ObamaCare gives American employers with over 50 full-time equivalent employees the choice between providing insurance that meets the standards of ObamaCare or paying a penalty. This penalty helps to offset the cost of employees who aren’t covered through their employer to purchase insurance through the public health insurance exchanges instead of using emergency services. (Employers with less than the equivalent of 25 full-time equivalent employees may qualify for tax credits, tax breaks and other assistance for insuring employees through the Health Insurance Marketplace.) • Unless you make over $200k individual / $250k as a family or small business you are exempt from almost every tax ObamaCare levies. • ObamaCare requires that all Americans have health insurance either through a private provider or through a state or federally assisted program. If you don’t have insurance you must pay a tax equal to 1% of your income in 2014 and 2.5% in 2016.

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Fly Like a G-20

BY JESSICA WEISS

As the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia began, everyone knew how awkward and dramatic the whole ordeal would become. Everyone would be looking at Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Obama, who are currently clashing over the issue of Syria. The day started off with bullying (Putin brought his pet dog to his first meeting with the German Chancellor, who has a well-known fear of dogs) and continued with the most awkward handshake in the world.

This effect of this little rift the U.S. and Russia has will only be felt in a few months. As everyone freaks out about Syria and forgets about every other problem the world has, the true purpose of the G-20 summit (dealing with the global economy) doesn’t seem to be anyone’s concern. This is harmful, because when we look at the slowing down of economic growth in supposedly bad a*s “growing economies” like China, India, and Brazil, we get little response on the topic. Also, fun issues such as energy subsidies (government bucks for certain types of energy) and food security are completely off the table because all attention is drawn to Syria. These huge issues which will probably not be addressed will cause huge harms for people around the world and in the U.S., as the effect of the global economy and economic policy issues are felt in the day-to-day lives of most people.

The G-20 summit was created in 2008 after the global financial crisis, and it helped restore stability to the financial system. Cooperation between the world’s largest economies helped keep global markets open,  which slowed down the punch of the drop in growth. Since then, I think it’s fair to say that the G-20 has failed to follow up with further successes. Members have been b*tchy and disagreeable on monetary policy. The United States loved the concept of more spending by Uncle Sam, while countries like Germany and the United Kingdom supported a system of austerity, or the cutting of government spending. The G-20 also hasn’t really been able to help with the huge financial crisis the Euro-zone. An explanation for these failures would be that the moment all these countries weren’t looking over the edge of a cliff, they all scurried back into their own corners.

With no real benefits, some might be asking why we still have a G-20. Is it just an excuse for world leaders to come together and party?

That view is… fair but inaccurate. Sure. The G-20 could be doing better, but it still matters for the global economy. In today’s globalized world, no country can achieve international economic policy with across-the-board standards. Instability and SOMEONE f*cking up will bring the whole house of cards down. 

Governments will ALWAYS disagree on the best way to achieve growth, regulate sh*t, manipulate currency, and pretty much everything else. These divisions will grow and threaten overall economic stability if leaders and countries didn’t come together to formally discuss solutions. Even though things are slow, we live with the ever-present risk of a new economic crisis. If one were to occur again, a functioning G-20 would be extremely valuable.

The problem with the summit this year, which wasn’t expected by Russia actually, is that the global economy is feeling the spillover of the Syrian crisis. This isn’t surprising, but comes at a cost.

The world needs an effective steering committee for the global economy. If there was possibility of a peace agreement on Syria at the summit, it might be worth it, but let’s face it, there’s not. It will be up to Australia, which hosts the 2014 G-20 summit to get everybody back on track.

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