The amendments have had practical impacts such as repealing the tax mandate of the employer, health insurance tax of small businesses and decreasing the burdens on individuals and businesses. The compliance cost for small business owners has risen by 36% higher than that of larger corporations. Similarly, the average U.S. citizen has already been overtaxed. Since the passing of the Affordable Care Act, Americans have not enjoyed the benefits that

Originally, this included 120 days of hospital benefits and 120 days of nursing-home benefits. General revenue funds from the program would also be applied towards hospital construction equipment purchase and grants to teaching hospitals. The second part of the law, also known as Part B, concerned physician visits. Initially, Part B was known as Eldercare, the American Medial Association's (AMA) alternative to Medicare. Mills however reformed it to become an

Transparency empowers consumers to become better shoppers. Economists assert that transparency stimulates productivity, for example, in exchange for money, one individual obtaining fair value. In every aspect, except healthcare, Davis points out, transparency, is supported. The contemporary dearth of transparency in healthcare has led to many Americans not being able to effectively shop for the best quality of service at acute care hospitals. Davis argues that transparency permits consumers,

Health Care Reform Federal Deficit The American Health Care Crisis and the Federal Deficit The United States spends more than any other country on medical care. In 2006, U.S. health care spending was $2.1 trillion, or 16% of our gross domestic product. At the same time, more than 45 million Americans lack health insurance and our health outcomes (life expectancy, infant mortality, and mortality amenable to health care) are mediocre compared with

Another factor, which increases the number of working uninsured, is the increase of healthcare costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, employees costs have risen by 47% and employers have seen a 20% increase. The employee's higher percentage can be attributed to the fact that employers are shifting some of the increased costs to the employee through higher deductibles and increase co-payments. The U.S. government, at both the state and

Figure 1 portrays the state of Maryland, the location for the focus of this DRP. Figure 1: Map of Maryland, the State (Google Maps, 2009) 1.3 Study Structure Organization of the Study The following five chapters constitute the body of Chapter I: Introduction Chapter II: Review of the Literature Chapter III: Methods and Results Chapter IV: Chapter V: Conclusions, Recommendations, and Implications Chapter I: Introduction During Chapter I, the researcher presents this study's focus, as it relates to the