Health Care |
Health Insurance Lifeline to Uninsured Americans Recent Census Bureau estimates place the number of uninsured Americans in excess of 45 million. The new health care reform law is meant to change by offering the following help, initializing at the dates indicated:
June 23, 2010 The new law offers near-immediate help for uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions through a temporary high-risk pool which will offer insurance to those with such conditions until the health insurance Exchanges (see information on these in the “2014” section of this article) are operational in about 3½ years.
September 23, 2010 The new law requires that health insurance plans allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance policy, at the parents’ choice. This rule applies to young adults not offered their own employer provided coverage.
October 1, 2010 The health care reform package significantly increases funding for Community Health Centers that serve low-income Americans. The increase is designed to allow for nearly a doubling of the number of patients served by these Centers over the next 5 years. New incentives also begin that are designed to steer more new doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners into primary care, providing more front-line choices for those who need an affordable primary care doctor.
2014
2014 is a major benchmark year under the new health care reform law. At the time, the law stipulates that the private industry work and government management needed to get the new health insurance Exchanges up and running must be completed. Private health insurance offered in the Exchanges is meant to be a substantial improvement over the current system of health insurance coverage in the following ways:
Affordability safeguards applying to health insurance options in the Exchanges:
Consumer-friendly features of insurance packages offered in the Exchanges:
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