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Now that a health care reform bill has passed both houses of Congress, many people are wondering how the passage of the health reform bill will affect their household finances.  There has been much confusion on both sides of the aisle on explaining to their constituents exactly what health reform will mean to their wallets, but now that the reform efforts have passed, many experts have begun to calculate the general costs of this legislation for the general population.  Here are some of their findings.

Who Benefits?

The experts agree that the biggest beneficiaries of the health care reform bill that passed congress are the individuals that were uninsured or uninsurable.  This legislation helps the people that were previously shut out of the insurance market obtain health care coverage at a much more reasonable cost than what was previously available to them.  Many people that work for employers that do not offer health insurance as an employee benefit will be able to purchase insurance on an insurance exchange often using subsidies provided by the federal government.  It is expected that this provision in the health care legislation will expand the availability of insurance coverage to millions more people.

Individuals that receive their health insurance coverage through their employer are not expected to see many significant changes.  The employees could still enroll in their employer’s health insurance plans and enjoy the benefits of employer subsidized health insurance.  The coverage offered under these employer based health care plans is not expected to change significantly either, with most individuals utilizing the same insurance plans that they have been using before the legislation is passed.

Will My Insurance Cost More?

The provisions in the health insurance reform bill are paid for in a myriad of ways and some of these ways will affect more people than others.  For example, the more affluent among us will see the amount of taxes that they pay on their personal wealth increase while the actual costs of their health insurance will remain the same.  Healthy individuals that could purchase health insurance and choose not to do so for personal or financial reasons will now be required to purchase some type of health insurance to cover themselves.  If the government determines that purchasing health insurance would place an undue financial hardship on the individual, then subsidies would be offered to help reduce the person’s out of pocket expenses.

When Will We See Changes?

Many of the provisions of the health insurance reform bill are not scheduled to go into effect until 4 years from now.  This includes the individual mandate for everyone to purchase health insurance and the provision that health insurers cannot deny coverage to an individual due to a pre-existing condition.  Other provisions of the law took effect shortly after its passage; such as insurers can no longer deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions or drop people from the coverage that they have paid for when they become ill.  There are many different pieces to this health care legislation and most people will not see the full effects of the law until it is fully enacted.