What is Obamacare (Obama Care)? What Does it Mean ?

Obamacare what is it ? What is the Health Care For America Plan? 

You've heard of ObamaCare, but what is ObamaCare or the Health Care For America Plan exactly? Obama Care (also known as the Health Care for America Plan) is a national health care plan aimed at reforming the American health care system. ObamaCare's main focus is on regulating the health insurance industry and reducing spending in health care.

What is Obama Care?: ObamaCare is the unofficial name for The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) which was signed into law on March 23, 2010. In a more general sense ObamaCare and The Health Care for America Plan or any such name is a reference to the ongoing health care reform under President Obama. (What is ObamaCare? President Obama Portrait Public Domain by WhiteHouse.org) The Obama administration has been working on a plan for American health care reform since Barack Obama was first elected into office. (The Democratic Party has been working on health care reform much longer than that.)

ObamaCare: What is it, and What Does it Mean to American Health Care?

So what is ObamaCare and what does it mean to you? There are really only a few things you need to know about President Barrack Obama's "ObamaCare".

• The Affordable Care Act contains over a thousand pages of reforms to the insurance industry and the health care industry in order to cut healthcare costs and to provide affordable health insurance to all Americans.
• There are around 44 million Americans who currently are unable to get health insurance. One of the major things ObamaCare does is help these individuals to get health insurance through expanding Medicaid and Medicare and offering assistance to Americans who cannot currently afford healthcare.

What Does ObamaCare Do?

Now that we know what ObamaCare is, it's time to find out what President Obama's health care reform bill does. Here are some of the most important aspects of the law:

• ObamaCare improves the quality of care that Americans receive by providing better preventative and wellness services and raising the standards of the quality of basic health care coverage.
• ObamaCare gives tens of millions of low-income and middle-income Americans access to quality health care by providing discounts on state or federal run health insurance exchanges.
• Although the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) was signed into law in 2010, the health care reforms it enacts roll out year by year until 2022. Many of the biggest reforms don't kick in until 2014.
• 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. Your access to health care is no longer in the hands of health insurance companies.
• ObamaCare gives American Employers with over 50 full-time 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 25 full-time employees may qualify for tax credits, tax breaks and other assistance for insuring employees.
• ObamaCare increases consumer protections. Helping to protect you from being dropped while sick, cut off for lifetime limits, denied for preexisting conditions and offers a better legal standing.
• 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 federal 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.
• ObamaCare expands Medicaid to over 15 million uninsured low income Americans.
• President Obama's health care law aims to reform the healthcare industry by cutting out waste, reallocating where government funding goes, fixing what doesn't work and most of all ensuring healthcare for Americans. Now that we've answered the question "What is ObamaCare?". Now it's time to figure out what the ObamaCare $700+ billion dollar tax cut to Medicare really means and to get the rest of the ObamaCare Facts.

PPACA (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ) requires insurance companies to cover all applicants and offer the same rates regardless of pre-existing conditions or sex.
The Congressional Budget Office projected that PPACA will lower both future deficits  and Medicare spending.

Source : obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php

Simple Guide to Small Business Insurance

Are you small business owner ?
Here are simple guide to insurance your small business :

Legally Mandatory

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Also known as employer’s liability insurance, this insurance is mandatory in every state. By providing workers’ compensation insurance, your company can award employees monetary sums in the event that an employee is injured or disabled while on the job. Since coverage is provided in exchange for the employee’s right to take legal action against the company, you will be protected from lawsuits in the case of employee injury or death.

Business Auto Insurance

If your company owns vehicles, then all 50 states require you to carry business auto insurance. The extent of coverage will depend on who drives the vehicles and what your state requires.

Disability Insurance

If your business operates in the states of California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York or Rhode Island, you are required to carry disability insurance. Disability insurance replaces a percentage of income for employees or business owners should they be injured and unable to earn a living themselves.

Not Legally Mandatory, But Must-Haves Nonetheless:

Property and Liability Insurance

Property and liability insurance protects your business’ assets from disasters such as fire and theft. Though you are not required to have it by law, you may own valuable assets such as furniture and expensive equipment that you cannot afford to lose. When purchasing this insurance, ensure that you are covered for the “replacement value” of these assets.

Errors and Omissions Insurance

We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. E&O insurance covers you when a client holds your company responsible for mistakes or errors made by your firm that were damaging to the client. Since OfficeDrop handles valuable customer documents, we decided to carry this insurance in case customer documents are accidentally lost or damaged. Every one of our customers is protected up to $1 million if they are adversely affected by an error.  Consulting and other professional service firms are also good candidates for this insurance.

Criminal Liability

While E&O insurance protects against unintentional errors and damage, criminal liability insurance covers damages intentionally done by employees. Even with extensive background checks of each of our employees, criminal acts are sometimes completely unpredictable, so we chose to carry criminal liability.

Business Owner’s Insurance

Recommended for any business owner, business owner’s insurance protects you from personal liability in the case of litigation against your business.

Other Options

Besides the above mentioned, there are many other insurance options that may greatly reduce risk in your business. Other policies include:

• Business Continuation Insurance
• Product Liability Insurance
• Key Executive Insurance

Though not all companies carry these insurance policies, they are still worth considering.
Still not sure as to what insurances to get for your business? While you may not need all of the insurance policies not mandated by law, we highly recommended that you review your business with an insurance advisor to discuss which insurance options are best for you.

Reference : http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/07/a-simple-guide-to-small-business-insurance.html

Snow Insurance for Skiers and Snowboarders

Thousands of skiers and snowboarders are taking unnecessary risks in the snow by failing to hold insurance cover.
Snowinsurance.com.au GM Ian Jackson has said that while the majority of Australia's 840,000 skies and snowboarders will have an incident free season this year the high cost of snow sport equipment meant that they should be insured.

"A lot of travel insurance policies don't protect you when you're skiing or snowboarding, so it's important to find a policy that specifically covers winter sports.
Never assume your credit card or annual policy gives you protection."
Snowinsurance.com provides cover specifically for Australian skiers and snowboarders.
Standard policies cover regular travel insurance, plus a range of snow related issues such as damaged or lost gear, bad weather disruptions, forced cancellations of prepaid item like lift passes and lessons, offshore injuries and medical expenses.
Visitors to snowfields often use equipment worth thousands of dollars, so a policy that costs $60 a week is well worthwhile.
Snowinsurance.com have also offered some tips for skiers and snowboarders which include; Not leaving gear unattended, labelling of items, using leg ropes for snowboards, keeping ski poles up and pointing forward, and avoiding obstacles that could damage gear.
Snowinsurance.com have also suggested that all snowfield users observe the Australian Alpine Responsibility Code. This can be viewed at www.snowsafe.org.au.
Swnowinsurance.com also covers the excess charged by car hire companies if an accident or damage occurs.
To obtain a policy visit www.snowinsurance.com.au.