Labor & Employment Law

Working Families Benefit from New Health Care Rules Effective Today

By Mike Hall

Today marks the six-month anniversary of the day President Obama signed the landmark health care reform law and also is the start date for several important provisions that will make quality health care more accessible and affordable for working families.

Starting today:

• Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage  for children with pre-existing conditions (though some are trying to dodge the new rule);
• Insurance companies will not be allowed to drop people, from coverage when they become sick;
• Young people will be able to stay on their parents? policy until 26 years of age;
• Insurance companies cannot put a lifetime cap on benefits;
• Consumers who join a new plan will be able to keep their own doctors;
• Preventive  care must be covered; and
• Consumers will have expanded rights to appeal insurance company decisions.

Also, early retirees with high cost cases will have assistance from a new program that will allow plans to continue to provide benefits for 55 to 64 year olds. And rates for Medicare drug plans and Medicare Advantage will remain stable in 2011, compared with 15 percent increases this year. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:

Today we are one step closer to achieving quality, affordable health insurance for everyone in America. The legislation will help people who were previously uninsured and strengthen the protections offered to those who are already insured.

Speaking at a backyard health care gathering in Northern Virginia yesterday, Obama said:

All these things are designed not to have government more involved in health care.  They?re designed to make sure that you have basic protections in your interactions with your insurance company; that you?re getting what you pay for; that you have some basic measures of protection in interacting with the health care system, which means that you?re not going to go bankrupt, you?re not going to lose your house if, heaven forbid, you end up having an accident, and you?re able to get the quality care that you need.

Over the next 10 years, the new law will cover 32 million uninsured Americans and reduce the federal budget deficit by $143 billion.

Click here to see how the new law has already benefited seniors on Medicare and here for a fact sheet on the health care reform law. For more on the new law from the White House, click here. Also, don?t forget to visit www.healthcare.gov/ for detailed information on health plans and updates on the new law.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 23, 2010 (boomark / email).