Health Care Reform Changes taking place September 23, 2010
67Key provisions of Health Care Reform take affect 9/23
The new Health Care Reform Act, signed into law 6 months ago, will not fully phase in until 2014. However, several parts of the bill become effective on Thursday September 23 2010 . Here are the highlights of those changes and what to expect:
1. Lifetime and annual limits are now gone - In the past, insurance companies were able to limit the actual dollar amount of coverage that can be provided over a person's lifetime. There is no longer a limit on coverage. Consumers are now protected against 'running' out of insurance coverage.
2. Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children due to Pre-existing conditions. The definition of children is people under the age of 19.
3. "Kids" can now stay on their parents insurance until the age of 26. The kids can be up to age 26 and do not have to be living with their parents.
4. Preventative Care services will no longer be charged co-pays, deductibles, or other charges. So for example, if you go to the doctor for immunizations, mammograms, etc, you will not be charged. One important point to note, some insurance plans have been 'grandfathered' so that they can avoid this new requirement.
5. Cancellation clauses no longer apply. For instance, if you made a typo in your date of birth on your insurance enrollment, insurance companies could use this to drop you from coverage if you suddenly become sick. Insurance companies can no longer cancel your policy unless you intentionally misrepresent yourself on the enrollment application.
6. New Consumer Appeals rights take affect. People have the right to appeal a decision by their insurance company and even have it heard by an independent 3rd party.
7. Extra charges from insurance companies are now prohibited if you need to use out of network emergency care.
Some additional new changes from Health Care Reform have already taken place including:
- Checks were mailed to seniors staring in June to help cover the prescription plan “donut hole.” These checks were in the amount of $250.00
- 4 million small businesses were eligible Jan 1, 2010 to receive tax credits of up to 35% for providing health insurance to their employees.
In a move that is certainly strategic due to the upcoming election, all of the new changes taking affect are certainly ‘consumer friendly.’ Future changes include a 10% tax on tanning services, the controversial individual mandate, and taxes on investment income for families making over $250,000. There are many more changes but these are the most controversial.
In a constant challenge to the Obama administration and the Democrats, the amount of ‘mis-information’ put out regarding Health Care Reform has been successful. Polling shows that most Americans have misconceptions regarding the reform act. For example, 58% of Americans believe Health Care reform raises taxes for most Americans in 2010. The truth is that the only new tax in 2010 is a 10% tax on tanning.
As confusing may be the Republican stance on reform. Some Republicans call for a full repeal, others call for changes to the existing reform. In some cases, the same republicans have called for both appeal and then changes and then full repeal, and then maybe just changes...
In any case, Health Care Reform will continue to be a major topic in the upcoming November elections.
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The health care reform in plain English. Thanks!
Good Hub,
I agree that there was and still is a lot of misinformation regarding the health care law.
Just heard on the news that the Republicans plan a full repeal and redo from the beginning; we know where that would lead...to doing nothing again.
If you have a chance, check out the hub that I recently wrote "Healthcare - The Republicans and Mike Huckabee".
Great information in your blog! Keep up the good work.
Boy, this is a great, informative, hub. Thank you.
God Bless
Good informative hub LRC, I didn't have all the information until I read your blog. How come Democratic congressmen didn't want to run on this great piece of legislative accomplishment?
Thanks everyone for the comments.
@mytipen - I know that some Dems in congress are running on HCR. My Congress rep in CT has been sending emails and talking about it in his appearances (he voted for it).
However, polling shows that more than 60% of people in this country have the facts wrong on the reform. I think the campaign to spread mis-information has been very successful. A lot of Dems fear running on HCR because many americans believe it raises middle class taxes, takes away their current doctor, etc (non of these are true)
The one part of HCR that is true is that there is an individual mandate. That certainly is not popular with conservatives and I can understand why they would be upset.
Just don't get sick. The reform doesn't change healthCARE Care.
Thanks for getting the word out, LRCBlogger.
Thanks William for stopping by.
OPINIONDUCK - I agree, the current reform doesn't actually change quality of care. I don't see that happening anytime soon, especially if the Republicans do indeed gain control of congress. The current reform is a series of consumer protections. If the Dems tried to push through items that actually reformed the quality of care, I think the GOP would go insane and rant and rave about the govt invading the private sector.
LRC,
what a shock you present a rosey posey version of a socialistic mandate that will do nothing but further taxlike mandates and requirements placed on American businesses to make them take this public option abomination- Whay aere all the socialist and communist regimes going broke or their people live in poverty- Too much government . mandates of this nature are not sustainable lets hope for the choldrens sake we can get this HC abomination repealed so that 1000's wont lose their jobs- the decrease of competition is NEVER GOOD ypu wanna fix healthcare INCREASE competition- but No government care-The free market has not been fully tapped in healthcare-free the restrictions- if you do that the companies will grow the premiums will reduce and the healthcare tax will not be levied on US. but thats not part of Iman Obamas communist muslim agenda
Good day to you sir.
Th
Hi Tom, as I mentioned in the hub (perhaps re-reading would help you), these are the changes taking place immediately and I noted many of the more controversial changes take place in the future.
I'm not sticking up for socialist or communist regimes but to address your statement, many of the socialist and communist regimes have a higher GDP and less debt as a percentage of GDP than the US. The only exceptions are Greece and Italy.
Most other industrialized countries are in far better financial shape.
You said "lets hope for the choldrens sake we can get this HC abomination repealed " - if healthcare is repealed, tomorrow insurance companies can go back to denying coverage for sick children for 'pre-existing' conditions. Are you aware that insurance companies deny coverage for kids with cancer if they have ever had acne? (they consider it a pre-existing skin condition)
Did you know that before HCR, you could fill out an insurance application and receive insurance but years later if you get sick, your insurance companies has the right to drop your policy and hold you accountable for all of the charges if you mispelled a word or forgot to check a box or made another simple mistake on your application.
TOM, read HCR from a non bias source, stop following these insane right wing stories. While I'll agree with you that the individual mandate should make people uneasy and is questionable, most of the rest of the bill is consumer protections that were badly needed. Why repeal a number of protections that benefit American citzens ? Insurance companies are raising rates while also showing record profits, do you really worry that the CEO of Aetna might not have enough money to buy a 3000 square mile island and might have to settle for a 2950 square mile island to buy?
Well, let all the reforms take their own course but take care of your health the best possible way. Although informative indeed.
Cool thanks for the plain and simple truth on Health Care Reform Changes, as they have been so confusing and hard to figure. :)
LRC, I notice the word play you use in saying things like if this is repealed then insurance companies can go back to denying coverage to pre existing sick children, this is a typical liberal rhetoric trick! yes it sounds great but lets change it somewhat! Go purchase a new vehicle and run into a pole before purchasing car insurance but thanks to Obama you get the 10 thousand dollar repair simply by dropping by the insurance office and making a down payment of 70 dollars and getting subsequent payments of 80 dollars per month! Tell me how that math works? How long will that insurance company stay in business before taxpayers have to bail them out or they go under and never complete the payment to your body shop and therefore you can never get the car out to drive again, ??????? The math simply doesn't add up no matter how worthy a cause you believe it to be!
AR, not really sure what you are talking about? There are some things in HCR that I really do not like however, HCR ends years of health insurance industry abuse. One of the first things an insurance company does when you get expensively sick is to go through your insurance application and look for any errors. You might have signed up for insurance 10 years ago but if you spelled a word wrong, they can deny you coverage based on a 'false' application.
The real issue with HCR is that it does very little to control costs. A lot of people believe the best option would be to drive insurance companies out of business and develop a single payer system. I'm not sure I totally agree with this but it is true that insurance companies really are just 'middle men.' They simply take money from large groups of people and simply distribute it to doctors and hospitals when one of those people are sick. They then take the remainder as profit.
Seems like a broken process.
Abecedarian Level 2 Commenter 20 months ago
Awesome as always and very informative.