title: The effects of national health care reform on local businesses--part 1. The law and its applicability.
abstract: This is part 1 of a 3-part series that presents a comprehensive examination of the results that can be expected from the 2010 national Health Care Reform legislation. Political pundits have speculated endlessly on the many changes mandated by the legislation, titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. A review and assessment of this legislation at several levels (federal, state, state agency, local region, and individual business leaders) were undertaken. The results of this expanded analysis suggest strongly that members of the business community and their employees will benefit from the legislation early on (years 1-3) and then likely will be impacted adversely as the payment mechanisms driving the legislation are tightened by new federal regulations (year 4 onward). Businesses will likely be immediately impacted by the legislation, with small business owners being the prime beneficiaries of the new legislation owing to the availability of coverage to approximately 32 million individuals who previously had no access to coverage. In that regard, the soon-to-be newly-insured population also will be a prime beneficiary of the legislation as the limitations on chronic illnesses and other preexisting conditions will be reduced or eliminated by the legislation.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Health Services Administration, Department of Health Management and Informatics, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816, USA. Dr.Timothy.Rotarius@ucf.edu
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rotarius
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liberman
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Perez
mesh_terms: D005431:Florida; D006264:Health Benefit Plans, Employee / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D007348:Insurance, Health; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States