Labor & Employment Law

Happy Birthday Health Care Reform?Don?t Let Republicans Spoil the Party

By Mike Hall

Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.

Today is the first anniversary of the landmark Affordable Care Act that has already helped tens of millions of Americans acquire or receive better health care and that has reined in health insurance companies? most abusive practices.

Yet congressional Republicans keep trying to repeal health care reform. What are they against?  Take a look at just some of the Affordable Care Act?s benefits repeal would destroy.

• Millions of seniors are receiving free preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, and relief from skyrocketing prescription drug prices–such as getting $250 if they reach the “donut hole” and a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs.
• For small businesses, job-creating tax credits are available to help cover their employees. More small businesses are now providing coverage.
• Adult children can stay on their parents’ health plans until they’re 26, which provides much needed access to care and peace of mind in this tough economy.
• The Affordable Care Act ends unconscionable abuses like dropping you because you fall ill or because you made a mistake in your paperwork. It bans the practice of denying your care or charging you more for having a pre-existing condition?about 129 million people. It also ends annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
• For the first time ever, the insurance companies are being held accountable, capping how much they can charge, limiting excessive profits and putting the brakes on bloated compensation for CEOs.

Also, prescription drug costs could shrink $700 for a typical Medicare beneficiary this year, as the law begins to close the donut hole. The National Council on Aging estimates the savings could reach $1,800 for some.

A recent report finds that the new health care reform law will mean thousands of dollars in health insurance premium savings and out-of-pocket health care costs for working families. For example, middle-class families purchasing private insurance in the new state-based Health Insurance Exchanges could save as much as $2,300 per year in 2014 and a family of four with an income of $33,525 could save as much as $14,900 per year since they also will qualify for tax credits and reduced cost sharing.

On top of taking away health care reform?s benefits and cost savings for working families and small businesses, if  Republican repeal efforts succeed, the Congressional Budget office estimates it would increase the federal budget deficit by $230 billion over the next decade and by $1.2 trillion in the following 10 years.

Something for everyone to celebrate.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 23, 2011 (boomark / email).