It's hard to believe it's been a year since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. But in the twelve months since it was signed, the law has already given Americans more freedom and control over their health care choices. The law's key goals for America's families: better benefits and better health.
The Affordable Care Act created a Patient's Bill of Rights that put an end to the worst abuses of the insurance industry. It made it illegal for an insurer to drop your coverage when you need it most because of an unintentional error on your paperwork. And for those in new plans, it provides preventive services like Pap smears and mammograms at no cost to you. Americans are already enjoying new protections, greater freedoms, and lower costs.
In Florida, Dawn Josephson was used to just getting by with health plans that excluded important benefits for her family because of pre-existing conditions. Her son had just had eye surgery, and she was expecting even more exclusions when she went looking for a plan last year. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, it is now illegal to deny children coverage because of health status. Dawn was able to find a plan without exclusions, and she got her family the coverage they needed.
In Minnesota, Lisa Doyle worried about her daughter Julie losing health coverage when she graduated from college. Lisa was unsure if Julie would find a job with coverage, and Julie had pre-existing conditions that would make individual insurance costly. But Lisa was able to keep Julie on her family insurance, thanks to a provision in the law that allows parents to keep children on their insurance up to age 26 as long as their child's employer does not offer coverage. A few weeks before Julie would have aged out of the family plan, she experienced a severe health incident -- which would have been a nightmare to go through without coverage.
As a mother, I know exactly what she means. When my sons graduated from college, they were fortunate to find jobs, but not jobs with health insurance coverage. They were lucky. They were healthy and had the resources to afford coverage. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, families will no longer have to rely on luck, and they will have better coverage options.
Across the country, moms like Dawn and Lisa are experiencing the peace of mind that comes with knowing their children are cared for. And millions of other Americans are receiving benefits and protections that are improving their health. From seniors getting help affording prescription drugs to small businesses being able to cover their employees using tax credits, the Affordable Care Act is already making a difference in people's lives.
This blog comes from MomsRising.org and CustomFitWorkplace.org. Each week it presents innovative ideas to strengthen 21st Century American families through public policies, business and workplace practices, and cultural change. Read personal stories on the health care blog-a-thon happening right now on the MomsRising blog.
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How to Know That:Disease Prevention Is The Key to Health Care
http://www.ehow.com/how_5423710_thatdisease-prevention-key-health-care.html
All of those 26 years old on their parents' plans will disappear.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sec-kathleen-sebelius/affordable-health-care-women_b_839354.html
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-03-25/health/health.care.law.basics_1_health-insurance-high-risk-pool-health-care-reform?_s=PM:HEALTH
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/May/10/Hospice.aspx
People in hospice will no longer get aggressive treatment.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/May/10/Hospice.aspx
And regulation will end, bringing about the bad days of dropping ill patients with impunity:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/17/us-insurers-idUSTRE62G2DO20100317
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/demons-and-demonization/
http://businessjournalism.org/2010/10/04/reuters-and-milwaukee-journal-sentinel-receive-2010-barlett-steele-awards/
24 year old son & my mother got a $250 rebate check, because she was in the donut hole of
Bush's healthcare plan , but Obama's healthcare reform helps fill the donut hole for people that
have more than a few thousand dollars of healthcare in a year.
BTW, personal attacks aren't appreciated.
Should laws be changed that prevent companies from raising your rates after you get sick? Absolutely. Changes should be made, but it doesn't take a drastic overall with thousands of waivers given to the politically connected that opt those groups out of the legislation. The overall should work for everyone. The problem is that not enough people pay for the cost of their care. This makes them ineffective consumers. They make decisions with other people's money so they buy things that they wouldn't otherwise. They buy expensive things when a cheap alternative would have done the job.
This is true. Have you ever tried getting an upfront quote from a hospital or doctor about what a procedure will cost? Try it some time. You might be surprised how difficult it is to find out what the cost is estimated to be. That doesn't address people who demand the newest, most expensive, shiny wonder-cure treatments because they're covered...however, it also doesn't address LACK of coverage of less expensive treatments.
Example: Gastric bypass. Completely covered under some insurance plans. The same plans...do not cover dietitians OR mental health therapy for overeating disorders or any number of far less expensive (and slower, and more time-consuming) procedures.
A significant portion of the problem is profitability being placed above actual treatment. People do not seem to understand that EFFECTIVE treatment is NOT the same as expensive treatment. Effective treatment can't always be broken down to "We'll pay the doc for X, Y, and Z procedure and A and B drugs prescribed."
I can get $500 a pill drugs covered. I can't get a $250 mental health visit covered. I can't get a $150 eye exam covered. Why? Because the latter two aren't as profitable. Never mind that the eye exam may prevent me from having to have a $25,000 surgery later down the road...
The hospital said his medical records showed he went to this appt. with a "medical condition" which was untrue. If you go for your annual check up and the doctor finds a problem...they won't pay for your "preventative" annual visit..Go figure. The Code may be wrong but they will never admit to it.
I fought with them from June '10 to March '11. I spoke to many people at the Ins. Co. and the hospital. It became a war with harsh words. The hospital billing dept got very nasty with me on several occasions. We spoke to the doctor and he couldn't convenience them it was "preventative" only.
Finally, I just got worn down, paid the bill after 10 months of arguing. Two weeks after I paid the bill they sent me a REFUND...Oops, they made a mistake, here is your refund! But no apology for the accusations of not wanting to pay the bill!
If this is an example of how things are going on our there in medical land and insurance land than we are all in for a rough ride.
The sad thing is, that families and individuals are burdened with the financial pressure at the same time that they are having to deal with major illnesses.
The system is broken.
My insurance co even tried to talk to them and got the same ugly responses. It is scary that this is what sick people have to deal with because of billing errors!
So can someone please explain how mandating us all to buy insurance is going to fix the problems in the above paragraph? PLEASE!
I remember when the Ins. Company just paid the bill and life went on. Now I discover that the Billing Office will behave so horrible for 10 months over a tiny bill when then they were wrong all along, just shows how bad it is right now.
The Health and Insurance industry went from Patient=Care to Patient=Money.
When a cut finger cost $700.00 for 4 stitches in an ER...something is very wrong with the system.
My guess is that we're in for a year of "look how scary the GOP is." Boy, that's inspiring.