Health Care Reform School

There were all kinds of claims made when Health Care Reform (The Affordable Care Act) was signed into law in March of 2010. The world did not end, in fact, very little changed until now. Some of the reforms included into the bill went into effect on September 23, 2010:

• Preventive Health Services: Requires that new policies must cover evidence-based preventive services, including screenings and vaccinations, with no copays or deductibles.
• Maintenance of Coverage When People Get Sick: Prevents insurance companies from withdrawing coverage when a person gets sick as a way of avoiding covering the costs of enrollees’ health care needs.
• No Lifetime Limits on Insurance Coverage: Prohibits insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits.
• Regulation of Annual Limits on Insurance Coverage: Tightly regulates plans’ use of annual limits to ensure access to needed care in all group plans and all new individual plans.
• Coverage for Young Adults: Requires health plans that provide coverage for children to continue to make that coverage available until the child turns 26 years of age. The requirement applies to all plans in the individual market, new employer plans, and existing employer plans – unless the adult child has an offer of coverage through his or her employer.
• Appeals Process for a Denial of Coverage: Requires new plans to implement an effective internal and external appeals process for coverage determinations and claims.

These changes will have real impacts on peoples' lives. Like my son who is still in college, but would have lost insurance under my family health plan when he turns 22 this fall, or the organ transplant patient who exceeded the lifetime coverage limit of their insurance plan, or the lives that can be saved when important health screenings like mamograms, are covered without any co-pays.

If health care reform is like high school, we are only in our freshman year; things are exciting, but a little scary, we are making real progress, but we know there is still a lot of work to do before we graduate in 2014. My advice? Stay in school and participate in activities like health screenings, and wellness programs. Maybe you will get voted "Most likely to live a long and healthy life"!

Health Care Reform Info