Politicians have been fighting over health care reform for years, but the switch from a Democratic to a Republican majority in the House of Representatives has cast doubt on the future of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
“Employers should know the health care landscape is going to be fluid during this time,” says Jeffrey Porter, director with Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter. “They are going to have to try to meet some of the obligations contained within the bill now, but, over time, things may change.”
Smart Business spoke with Porter about how the reforms will affect businesses and how the new Congress will affect the reforms.
How will the new Congress affect health care reform?
It is going to be a fluid situation over the coming years. There are a lot of extended deadlines within the bill, and there are a lot of things that can happen between now and then, especially now that we have had a changeover in the House of Representatives.
Many candidates were using the mantra ‘repeal and replace’ when speaking about the health care reforms. But I don’t think we’re going to see a full-scale repeal and replace of this bill. At most we’re going to see a group of lawmakers trying to tatter it around the edges.
They may try to address certain things with funding. Given the fact that the Senate is still controlled by the Democrats — albeit a very small majority — and the president’s there, I don’t think we’ll see the ability to overcome a presidential veto.
However, a lot of the things that happen within the bill require funding. I think we will see the House of Representatives making moves to try to hold back funding as much as they can so it will be difficult to implement certain aspects of the bill.
What do all these changes mean for business owners?
There are many dates to remember spread out over 2011, 2012 and all the way to 2014 and beyond. Businesses are obviously concerned about meeting the goals the bill sets for them. Although the Department of Health and Human Services is working diligently on trying to implement the bill, if there is no funding available, some goals might not be able to be accomplished.
For instance, the creation of health insurance exchanges, which will provide the ability for people to go out and purchase health insurance on an exchange comprised of private companies offering coverage to individuals, that doesn’t take effect until 2014. It’s feasible that there may be changes to that plan along the way.
