What’s So Great About the Affordable Care Act? October 1 will begin the roll out of the biggest new social program in nearly 50 years—the Health Insurance Exchanges established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). The law is a landmark first step toward achieving universal health insurance coverage in the United States. Most of us in CWA have access to affordable care through our employers. That won’t change, though the Affordable Care Act does include some improvements for our plans and for Medicare: • Dependent children can now be covered by their parent’s policy until age 26. • Many plans must cover preventative care with no copays or deductibles required. • Annual and lifetime maximums on benefits are prohibited. • Medicare will provide preventive care with no copays, and the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” will be eliminated by 2020. Improvements for the Uninsured Good things are about to happen for our friends and family members who have been unable to get affordable health coverage because their employer doesn’t offer it, because they have a pre-existing condition, or because it is just too expensive. • Insurance companies can’t deny anyone coverage due to pre-existing conditions. • They can’t charge women higher rates than men; they can’t charge more due to health status. • “Age rating,” the ability to charge more due to a person’s age, is greatly limited. • Preventive care must be provided at no cost – no copays, no deductibles. • Insurers must spend at least 80 to 85% of every premium dollar on medical care—not administration, overhead, advertising or profits -- or else they must rebate the excess back to their customers. • Federal subsidies are available through the health exchanges for those whose incomes are less than 400% of the poverty level. • In states that adopt the change, Medicaid will be offered to families and individuals whose incomes are less than 133% of the poverty level. If the Affordable Care Act is so Great,
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 03:40:23 +0000
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