Results tagged “health care reform” from EdLabor Journal

Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services forcefully responded to critics of the Affordable Care Act in a Wall Street Journal op-ed today. She wrote:

“These critics seem to believe that any oversight of the insurance industry is too much, and that consumers would be better off in a system where they have few rights or protections.”

…

“The Affordable Care Act is bringing some basic fairness to our health insurance market. So when I learned that a handful of insurers around the country are blaming their significant rate increases on the new law—even though the facts show that the impact of the law on premiums is small, just 1% to 2% declining over time—I let them know that we'd be closely reviewing their rate hikes.

It’s understandable that some insurance companies and their allies don't welcome this change. They've made large profits from the status quo. And it's not surprising—though still disappointing—that House Republicans have recently pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act and get rid of these new consumer protections.

“If critics really want to go back to the days when insurance companies ran wild with no accountability, they should have the courage to say so openly instead of hiding behind distracting attacks. In the meantime, we're going to keep standing up for American families and small business owners who deserve a system that works for them.”

More information on the Affordable Care Act

President Obama spent the afternoon in a Falls Church, Va. backyard explaining the benefits of health care reform, including many changes that will go into effect tomorrow. The Washington Post reported:

“He highlighted some new reforms that take effect at the six-month mark Thursday, including new coverage for preventive care and young adults being able to stay on their parents' health care plans until age 26.

“‘I thank you from the bottom of my heart,’ one woman present, Norma Byrne of Vineland, N.J., told the president, explaining she was benefiting from the law's provisions that are closing the prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare.”

Today, the White House unveiled a new health reform website – whitehouse.gov/healthreform that features the stories of people across the nation who will benefit from the Affordable Care Act.

Individuals featured on the site include Jennifer from North Dakota whose 9 year-old daughter Allison has Mucopolysaccharidosis type I, a rare genetic disorder. Allison’s prescription drug costs were rapidly approaching Jennifer’s plan’s lifetime limit – leaving her unsure about how she could continue to pay for her daughter’s life-saving medication. Caps on lifetime benefits are banned under the Affordable Care Act.

Many Americans are confused about what the Affordable Care Act will mean for their families.  The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation produced a video to explain the new law.  The video, narrated by news commentator Cokie Roberts, explains problems with the current health care system, the changes that are happening now and changes coming in 2014.

Thursday is an important day for many Americans who have struggled to maintain health coverage. Major provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect on the 23rd that will help more citizens receive affordable care and protect against the worst insurance company abuses, like refusing coverage to children with preexisting conditions. CBS San Francisco interviewed Julie Waters, the mother of a toddler with severe epilepsy. In response to the impending reforms, Waters told CBS:

 “Violet can still see the doctor. Violet can still be in the hospital for two weeks if she needs to for them to stop her seizures. Violet is going to be ok because of this.”

The Contra Costa Times profiled Gino Romiti, who suffers from fibromyalgia, a condition that causes chronic pain:

“For 23-year-old Gino Romiti, Thursday will be a day to celebrate.

“Six months after passage of the federal health reform law, major provisions will kick in that supporters say will make it easier for Americans to get and keep health insurance, including young people like Romiti.

“Romiti has taken a semester off school and is working at a clothing store in Walnut Creek that does not provide health insurance. He has been on his father's policy, but would have soon lost that coverage because he is not a student.

“That will change beginning Thursday, however, when he and other young people can remain on their parents' policies up to age 26.”

View CBS San Francisco’s full report below, which includes footage of Chairman Miller’s recent press conference on the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act puts Americans, not the health insurance companies, back in charge of their health care.  The Patient’s Bill of Rights in the Affordable Care Act will stop the worst insurance company abuses. 

On September 23, 2010, six months after the Affordable Care Act became law, critical new consumer protections in the Patient's Bill of Rights begin to take effect.:

For Plan Years Beginning On or After September 23, 2010, Privately-Insured Consumers Will Have The Following Protections:

Your health coverage cannot be arbitrarily canceled if you become sick.

Up until now, insurance companies had been able to retroactively cancel your policy when you became sick, if you or your employer had made an unintentional mistake on your paperwork.

Under the new law, health plans are now prohibited from rescinding coverage except in cases involving fraud or an intentional misrepresentation of facts. Due to pressure from Democrats in Congress and the Obama Administration, insurers agreed to begin implementing this protection early, this spring; so rescissions are now a thing of the past. This protection applies to all health plans.

"Approximately 10,700 people’s coverage, whose coverage is dropped each year because they get sick or make a technical mistake on their application, will be protected under the new law." (White House) 

Your child cannot be denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition.

Each year, thousands of children who were either born with or develop a costly medical condition are denied coverage by insurers. Research has shown that, compared to those with insurance, children who are uninsured are less likely to get critical preventive care including immunizations and well-baby checkups. That leaves them twice as likely to miss school and at much greater risk of hospitalization for avoidable conditions.

The new law prohibits insurance plans both from denying coverage and limiting benefits for children based on a pre-existing condition. This protection applies to all health plans, except “grandfathered” plans in the individual market. These protections will be extended to Americans of all ages starting in 2014.

"Up to 72,000 uninsured children are expected to gain coverage by banning insurers from refusing them coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Coverage for up to 90,000 children will no longer exclude benefits because of a pre-existing condition."  (White House) 

 
Young adults up to age 26 can stay on their parent's health plan.

Young people are the most likely to be uninsured – with currently one in three young people having no health coverage. One reason is that young people are less likely to be offered coverage through their jobs.

Under the new law, insurance companies are required to allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance plan, at the parent’s choice. This provision applies to all health plans. (For employer plans, only those young people not eligible for their own employer coverage receive the benefit, until 2014.) Learn more about the young adults insurance policy. 

"Up to 2.4 million young adults, up to 1.8 million who are uninsured and nearly 600,000 who purchase coverage in the individual market, could gain coverage through their parents." (White House)

Prohibition of lifetime limits.

Millions of Americans who suffer from costly medical conditions are in danger of having their health insurance coverage vanish when the costs of their treatment hit lifetime limits. These limits can cause the loss of coverage at the very moment when patients need it most. Over 100 million Americans have coverage that imposes such lifetime limits. The new law prohibits the use of lifetime limits in all health plans.

"Up to 20,400 people who typically hit their lifetime limits on the dollar amount that can be spent on coverage, along with the nearly 102 million enrollees who have policies with lifetime limits, will no longer have to worry about hitting their benefits caps." (White House)

 
Annual limits will be phased out over three years. 

Even more aggressive than lifetime limits are annual dollar limits on what an insurance company will pay for health care. Annual limits are less common than lifetime limits – but 19% of individual market plans and 14% of small employer plans currently use them.

The new law phases out the use of annual limits over the next three years. For plan years beginning on September 23, 2010, the minimum level for the annual limit will be set at $750,000. This minimum is raised to $1.25 million in a year and $2 million in two years. In 2014, all annual limits are prohibited. The protection applies to all plans, except “grandfathered” plans in the individual market.

"By 2013, up to 3,500 people will gain coverage as a result of the ban on annual limits that insurers impose on nearly 18 million people today." (White House)

Beginning September 23, 2010, Consumers Purchasing NEW Plans Will Have the Following Additional Protections:

You have the right to key preventive services without a deductible or co-payments.

Today, too many Americans do not get the high-quality preventive care they need to stay healthy, avoid or delay the onset of disease, and lead productive lives. Nationally, Americans use preventive services at about half the recommended rate.

Under the new law, insurance companies must cover recommended preventive services, including mammograms, colonoscopies, immunizations, and pre-natal and new baby care, without charging deductibles, co-payments or co-insurance. Learn more about preventive care benefits.

"Up to 88 million people will have access to preventive care with no out of pocket costs." (White House)

Right to both an internal and external appeal.

Today, if your health plan tells you it won’t cover a treatment your doctor recommends, or it refuses to pay the bill for your child’s last trip to the emergency room, you may not know where to turn. Most plans have a process that lets you appeal the decision within the plan through an “internal appeal” – but there’s no guarantee that the process will be swift and objective. Moreover, if you lose your internal appeal, you may not be able to ask for an “external appeal” to an independent reviewer.

The new law guarantees the right to an “internal appeal.” Also, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage for needed care without a chance to appeal to an independent third party. Learn more about appealing health plan decisions.

"Up to 88 million people will benefit from the new appeals process provisions by 2013." (White House)

Right to choose your own doctor.

Being able to choose and keep your doctor is highly valued by Americans. Yet, insurance companies don’t always make it easy to see the provider you choose. One survey found that three-fourths of the OB-GYNs reported that patients needed to return to their primary care physicians for permission to get follow-up care.

The new law: 1) guarantees you get to choose your primary care doctor; 2) allows you to choose a pediatrician as your child’s primary care doctor; and 3) gives women the right to see an OB-GYN without having to obtain a referral first.

"Up to 88 million people will benefit from the provision that protects primary care provider choice by 2013." (White House)

You have the right to access to out-of-network emergency room care at in-network cost-sharing rates.

Many insurers charge unreasonably high cost-sharing for emergency care by an out-of-network provider. This can mean financial hardship if you get sick or injured when you are away from home.

The new law makes emergency services more accessible to consumers. Health plans will not be able to charge higher cost-sharing for emergency services that are obtained out of a plan’s network.

"Up to 88 million people will benefit from this provision." (White House)

Read more about the Act and find out what other changes are coming up.

The Medicare program is better protected from waste, fraud and abuse due to provisions of the Affordable Care Act. One of the fraud provisions in the law was inserted by Chairman Miller. Miller’s provision would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to hold the initial reimbursement to a new durable medical device supplier (for example, new suppliers of canes, crutches, and wheelchairs) for 90 days while she determines if there is a significant risk of fraud. In October, 60 Minutes highlighted the issue of unscrupulous durable medical device suppliers that use “phantom patients” to get paid by Medicare for medical supplies never purchased. This provision will give Medicare investigators the time they need to determine whether the business is legitimate.

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced steps it is taking to keep the Medicare program safe and secure. The Hill explained these new measures:

“Healthcare providers would be subject to new screening measures based on their level of risk to federal health programs, under new proposed regulations released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The fraud, waste and abuse prevention measures were called for in the new healthcare reform law.

“The screening measures include database and licensure checks, unscheduled or unannounced site visits, even criminal background checks and fingerprinting for the highest-risk providers and suppliers to Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. The proposed rule, which will be open for comment for 60 days, also establishes the criteria for six-month enrollment moratoriums to combat fraud and on payment suspensions during pending fraud investigations.”

…

“Improper payments cost federal health programs about $55 billion a year. The White House piggy-backed off the announcement to make the case that defunding healthcare reform, as some Republicans in Congress are advocating, would increase fraud.”

The White House applauded HHS’s work and reminded us all that these are among the reform provisions that congressional Republicans threaten to repeal:

“But if some opponents of health reform in Congress get their way, these common sense rules will be stopped dead in their tracks.

“Opponents are threatening to defund the Affordable Care Act, which would effectively handicap implementation and enforcement of these new rules that would help crack down on criminals and protect seniors.

“This is just one example of the consequences of defunding the Affordable Care Act and one of the many reasons why we can’t afford to roll back the new law. If opponents of reform get their way, new anti-fraud policies aren’t the only provisions that will be prevented from moving forward.”

The Census Bureau reported yesterday that 1 in 6 Americans did not have health coverage in 2009. That’s over 50 million people. This new statistic underscores the importance of the Affordable Care Act, which provides affordable care for all Americans and protects from the worst insurance company abuses – like denying coverage after a policyholder gets sick and setting lifetime limits on coverage. USA Today reported on the reasons for this rise:

“The reasons for the rise to 50.7 million, or 16.7%, from 46.3 million uninsured, or 15.4%, were many: workers losing their jobs in the recession, companies dropping employee health insurance benefits, families going without coverage to cut costs. Driving much of the increase, however, was the rising cost of medical care; a Kaiser Family Foundation report shows workers now pay 47% more than they did in 2005 for family health coverage, while employers pay 20% more.”

This report is a sobering reminder of why Democrats in Congress fought for the Affordable Care Act: the law will cover 32 million uninsured Americans while reducing the deficit and ensure that loss of employment no longer means the loss of health care coverage.

As mentioned yesterday, a provision of the Affordable Care Act banning lifetime limits on health care coverage goes into effect next week, on September 23rd.

A lifetime limit on coverage is a cap on how much an insurer will pay for any one policy.  When medical bills exceed this cap, which is often the case when a person is diagnosed with a serious or chronic illness, insurers can stick the patient with the rest of the bill. Over 90% of individual health insurance policies have lifetime benefit limits, but such practices will be prohibited under the health reform law. A recent NPR piece explained this important change:

“Among the new provisions of the health law that take effect later this month is a ban on something most people don't even know they have — a lifetime limit on benefits covered by their health insurance.

“Starting late next week, new health plans or plans that are renewed, won't be able to cap the dollar amount of benefits they cover. No more yearly caps either, though those limits will be phased out over three years, disappearing entirely in 2014.

“The change apply even to health plans that don't have to abide by some new rules because they were ‘grandfathered’ under the health law.”
…

“Until now, many people with expensive chronic conditions simply considered it their lot in life to have to change jobs every couple of years in order to maintain coverage.

“Take Edward Burke, of Palm Harbor, Florida. Burke, who has hemophilia, and has ‘capped out,’ as those with chronic conditions call it, twice in the past seven years. ‘I would have capped out four or five times,’ he says, but for the fact that the industry he works in, home health care, had been going through a series of mergers and acquisitions. So every time his company was bought and changed names, he was lucky enough to start with new health insurance — and a new lifetime limit.

“Burke estimates he spends about $900,000 per year on factor VIII, which replaces a clotting factor he lacks. That makes chewing through a lifetime limit of even several million dollars a matter of when, not if.”

As the ban on lifetime limits goes into effect for health plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010, people like Edward Burke will not have to struggle to maintain coverage any longer.

September 23rd marks the 6-month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and the first day many important reforms go into effect. Beginning September 23rd, all new health plans will be prohibited from placing lifetime caps on coverage. This provision will be life-changing for one family profiled by Kaiser Health News and countless other families around the country. Kaiser reported:

“For many years, Ric and Jill Lathrop held their breath when the annual open enrollment period for their health insurance plan rolled around. Their two boys, now 12 and 14, have severe hemophilia, and each needs twice-weekly injections of a blood clotting replacement factor that costs roughly $250,000 per person per year. The couple lived in fear that their health plan would put a lifetime limit on their benefits.

“In 2005, that's what happened. The Oshkosh, Wis., hospital where Ric Lathrop worked as an MRI technician instituted a $2 million lifetime cap on benefits for the entire family. Rather than wait for their benefits to run out, the Lathrop family relocated to Illinois, where Ric Lathrop got a job at a hospital in Peoria; along with the job came insurance without lifetime limits.

“If that coverage had changed, the Lathrops might have had to move again . . . and maybe again. But the federal health-care overhaul makes further wandering unnecessary. Starting Sept. 23, the new law requires that when health plans renew their coverage for the coming year, they eliminate lifetime limits on coverage.

"It gives us a lot of reassurance to know our kids can have more freedom," says Jill Lathrop.”

Other provisions going into effect for all new plans and plan years beginning after Sept. 23 include:

• Requiring plans to allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance policy.
• Banning all health plans from dropping people from coverage when they get sick.
• Providing immediate access to insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre‐existing condition. —This program is already in effect.
  

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will reduce health insurance costs for small businesses and increase coverage beginning this year, according to two reports released today.

Both a Commonwealth Fund report and an analysis by the RAND Corporation concluded that the new health reform law will help small business owners offer insurance because of tax credits and lower administrative costs of coverage available through a new insurance marketplace, the Exchange.

“The ACA will provide both immediate and long-term relief for millions of small businesses that have long struggled to provide health insurance to their workers and who are now coping with a severely weakened economy,” the Commonwealth Fund report concluded.

Small businesses often face difficulties in securing affordable coverage for their employees as the result of higher administrative costs and insufficient bargaining power as compared to larger companies. The RAND Corporation found that the new health reform law will increase the number of small businesses offering health insurance coverage “by aggregating employees of small firms into a single risk pool, exchanges will reduce year-to-year variance in premiums and may increase bargaining power and reduce administrative spending per enrollee.”

RAND estimates that that the percentage of workers receiving insurance through their job will increase from 84.6 percent to 94.6 percent once reform is fully implemented. The largest factor in this expansion is from more small businesses being able to offer coverage – rising from 60 percent to nearly 86 percent after reform.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, small businesses spend up to 18 percent more in premiums than larger firms do for the same insurance policy. In addition, when workers in small business have to shop for coverage themselves, nearly 70 percent of these workers give up because they found it difficult or impossible to navigate the individual market. More than 16 million employees work in small businesses will be eligible for a tax credit to provide health coverage over up to 2014 as the result of health reform law.

The Affordable Care Act provides specific benefits to assist small businesses and their workers to secure quality and affordable health insurance coverage. Beginning this year, many small businesses will be eligible for a tax credit for providing health coverage to their employees. When health reform comes into full effect in 2014, small businesses and their employees will be able to benefit from the creation of the health insurance exchange, a new marketplace that will help to drive down high administrative costs and end the worst insurance industry practices.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced today that nearly 2,000 employers and other organizations are eligible to receive crucial assistance to help them continue promised health coverage for early retirees, representing the first round of successful applications for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. Early retiree health plans for employers such as General Motors Co., General Electric Co., unions, state and local governments and universities are eligible for assistance contained in provisions of the new health reform law.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius conveyed the importance of the program:

“In these tough economic times, it is difficult for employers to keep up with skyrocketing health care costs for employees and retirees. Many Americans who retire before they are eligible for Medicare see their life savings disappear because of medical bills and exorbitant rates in the individual health insurance market… The Affordable Care Act’s Early Retiree Reinsurance Program will make it a little easier for employers to provide high-quality health benefits to their retirees as we work to put in place market reforms to lower costs for all.”

According to the Associated Press, “As medical costs soared in the last 20 years, employers have dramatically scaled back retiree health coverage. The share of large companies providing the benefit dropped from 66 percent in 1988 to 29 percent last year.”

The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program will help maintain promised coverage of early retirees who are over 55, but not yet Medicare eligible, providing an important bridge to help control costs until health reform comes into full effect in 2014. Organizations eligible for the program will receive partial reimbursements for health care costs that rise between $15,000 and $90,000 for each individual in the plan. The reimbursements may be used to reduce premiums or hold down rising costs for employers.  

The eligible employers represent a cross-section of the American economy – from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses, local governments, union health plans, nonprofits and educational institutions from every state and the District of Columbia. HHS says that more applications to participate in the program are pending and new applications will be accepted. 

An article by the AP in today's Los Angeles Times reports on a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey, taken before the Affordable Care Act became law found that individual health insurance premium hikes far exceed group plan hikes with the increases averaging 20% for individual coverage.

The AP says:

The nonprofit foundation, which is separate from health insurer Kaiser Permanente, said recent premium hikes for individual coverage averaged 20%. Some customers were able to switch plans and pay less so people paying on their own actually wound up paying 13% more on average.

That hike tops last year's average 5% annual increase for employer-sponsored family coverage and almost unchanged premiums for employer-sponsored single coverage, though foundation Vice President Gary Claxton said the comparisons come with qualifications.

The White House highlights the importance of reform on their blog:

The Affordable Care Act will help address this problem and strengthen the health insurance system for everyone. The law starts by helping to prevent unreasonable premium increases by requiring insurance companies to publicly justify unreasonable increases. Companies will also have to spend more of your premium dollars on medical claims, not salaries and overhead. If insurance companies raise rates too high between now and 2014, they could be excluded from the new health insurance exchanges and lose access to millions of new customers. And we are encouraging states to crack down on premium hikes and providing states with $250 million in grants to do so.

Learn what states are already doing to protect consumers against unjustified rate hikes.

Also, watch President Obama announce new benefits for consumers in a speech in the East Room at 11:45 AM ET.

If you have additional questions, send them to About.com and watch HHS Secretary Sebelius answer them today at 3:15 ET.

If the answer is "twenty-eight percent," what's the question?

Q1: What percentage of Americans will be insured under the new health insurance reform law?
Q2: How much can a one-percentage point difference in 401(k) fees reduce overall retirement income over a lifetime of saving?
Q3: What's the percent of Committee Members up for re-election in 2010?
Q4: How much has age discrimination increased?

Continue reading for the answer.

Both the New York Times and the Washington Post highlighted the looming deficit problems for states and localities and how it could mean a loss of nearly 300,000 teachers' jobs nationwide.

In the New York Times editorial, Saving the Teachers, they say:

Last year’s $100 billion education stimulus plan insulated the public schools from the worst of the recession and saved an estimated 300,000 jobs. With the economy still lagging and states forced to slash their budgets, Congress must act again to prevent a wave of teacher layoffs that could damage the fragile recovery and hobble the school reform effort for years to come.

In March, Representative George Miller, a Democrat of California, introduced a jobs bill that included a $23 billion school rescue plan. Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat of Iowa, has since introduced a similar plan fashioned as an emergency spending bill. The House version is the better of the two.

The need for a second school stimulus plan was underscored on Monday by a new analysis from the American Association of School Administrators, which reported that cash-strapped districts were prepared to cut as many 275,000 jobs in the 2010-2011 school year.

The loss of that many paychecks — and the resulting decline in consumer spending — could kill off still more jobs in the communities where teachers and other school employees live.

(emphasis added)

Harold Meyerson wrote about the school recession in the Washington Post:

The worst recession since the 1930s is clobbering the nation's schools.

In Indiana and Arizona, the legislatures have eliminated free all-day kindergarten. In Kansas, some school districts have gone to four-day weeks. In New Jersey, 60 percent of school districts are reducing their course offerings. In Albuquerque, the number of school district employees is down 10 percent. In the D.C. suburbs, Maryland's Prince George's and Virginia's Prince William counties have increased their class sizes.

The Local Jobs for America Act allocates $23 billion this year to help states support 250,000 education jobs. And it does a lot more for local communities like funding for firefighters and police.

A New York Times' editorial today notes that the health care reform bill is already changing the behavior of the health insurance companies and that is a big win for consumers.

Americans are already starting to see the benefits of health care reform. The new law requires health insurance companies — starting in September — to end their most indefensible practice: rescinding coverage after a policyholder gets sick. In recent days insurers and their trade association have rushed to announce that they will end rescissions immediately.

That is very good news for the thousands of people who each year pay their premiums but lose their coverage just when they are likely to run up big medical bills.

...

The insurers were wise to short-circuit the criticisms and end rescissions now. This follows a recent agreement by many companies to start letting dependents stay on their parents’ policies until age 26, which isn’t required until September. Under pressure from the White House, the industry has also agreed to cover children with pre-existing medical conditions as soon as new rules are issued.

Many of the other major provisions of reform don’t kick in until 2014, but it is already changing the behavior of insurers. That means more security for many Americans who might otherwise find insurance unaffordable or unavailable.

Additionally, consumers in California in the individual market will see a reprieve of the 39% increase in their premiums by Anthem Blue Cross.

WellPoint Inc. said it would revise its request for steep rate hikes in California's individual market, after a state regulator said it found flaws in the company's application.

The proposed premium increases by the company's Anthem Blue Cross unit would have affected more than 700,000 consumers, who would have seen their rates go up by as much as 39%.

Learn more about the benefits of health insurance reform for you and your family.

On this blog, we have highlighted many of the benefits to all Americans under the new health reform law. Today the New York Times joins in, highlighting another key change, free preventative care under new plans. The new health reform law requires new private plans to cover preventive services with no co‐payments and with preventive services being exempt from deductibles.

As the New York Times reports:

The new law also aims eventually to improve health insurance for everyone. By now you have probably read or heard about big changes like the rules that will require insurers to cover everyone who applies, regardless of health status, and forbid them from dropping people when they get sick.

You may not yet be aware, though, of another notable improvement to insurance, a change that could save a consumer or family hundreds of dollars a year. Under the new law, insurers must offer preventive services — like immunizations, cancer screenings and checkups — to consumers as part of the insurance policy, at no additional out-of-pocket charge.

The idea is that healthy Americans will be less costly Americans.

“This is transformative,” says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit organization for large employers. “We’re moving from an insurance model that was based on treating illness and injury, to a model that’s focused on improving an individual’s health and identifying risk factors.”

The trend toward offering free preventive care has been gaining steam for a decade among large companies that provide employee health benefits. “Employers recognize that if they want to control costs, they have to persuade their workers to be healthier, including their children,” Ms. Darling said.

Three out of four large companies now offer free preventive health services to their workers, according to a 2009 survey by Mercer, a benefits consulting firm. Smaller employers, though, and individual health plans have been less likely to offer free care of any type.

Learn more about the new health reform law and how all Americans will benefit. Also, see this PDF for more information about preventing disease and improving the public's health.

This year, President Obama and a Democratic-led Congress have:

ALLOWED EXTENDED COVERAGE UNTIL AGE 26 THROUGH YOUR PARENTS: Reform allows you to stay on your parents’ health care plans until your 26th birthday (PDF). Between now and 2014, this only applies if your employer doesn’t offer you coverage. Beginning in 2014, it applies to all young people, even if you get insurance through your job. This will help to cover the one in three young adults who are uninsured.

LOWERED YOUR COSTS WITH FREE PREVENTATIVE CARE FOR BETTER HEALTH: Reform means free preventive care to all people insured under new plans (PDF), and invests in preventing illness and disease instead of just treating them when it’s too late and costs more. Simple prevention can stop a small health problem from getting worse as you get older.

GIVEN YOU NEW PATIENTS’ RIGHTS THAT SAVE YOU MONEY: This year, reform eliminates lifetime limits on how much insurance companies cover if you get sick, and tightly restricts yearly limits (PDF). In 2014, reform caps what insurance companies can force you to pay in co‐pays & deductibles, bans "gender rating" that allows women to be charged more for the same coverage, and bans new group plans from having eligibility requirements that have the effect of discriminating in favor of higher wage employees—who tend not be younger workers.

GIVEN YOU SECURITY THAT YOUR  HEALTH CARE IS NOT TIED TO A JOB: Reform means affordable health insurance is available to those without job‐based coverage, starting in 2014, and provides substantial premium assistance (PDF) to those who still can’t afford it. Young adults are just starting jobs and careers, and often don’t have access to job‐based coverage. Even when they do, they often can’t afford health insurance—or must endure a waiting period as a new employee.

ENSURE YOU HAVE HEALTH CARE WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST – WHEN YOU'RE SICK: You can no longer be dropped from your plan if you get sick. If you have a “pre‐existing condition,” beginning in 2014, you can no longer be denied coverage or charged higher rates (PDF) —and between now and 2014, you can enter an interim high‐risk pool to get insurance. This year, discrimination is banned for children under age 19 who have pre-existing conditions.

PROVIDED YOU A CHOICE OF COMPETITIVE PRICES AND PLANS: Reform creates Health Insurance Exchanges, or marketplaces (PDF), you can shop in if you don’t get insurance through your job. Starting in 2014, you get the benefits of group purchasing power like big businesses have.7

MADE IT EASY WITH ONE-STOP SHOPPING: Insurance "Exchanges" or marketplaces will allow you to simply and easily compare prices and health plans online (PDF) and choose what’s right for you. The typical young adult risks losing coverage when you change jobs, move, or hold a part‐time or temporary job. Under reform, it doesn’t matter.

PAID FOR REFORM SO YOUR GENERATION’S NOT STUCK WITH THE BILL: Health insurance reform is actually projected to lower the deficit by $1.3 trillion (PDF) over the next two decades. It lowers health care costs over the long term—so it makes sense it lowers the cost to taxpayers.

Yesterday was a milestone for students and taxpayers. President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 into law.

The Denver Post reports:

President Barack Obama signed into law the last piece of his mammoth plan to overhaul health care Tuesday and, with the same pen strokes, achieved a far-reaching change in the way most Americas help pay the cost of a college education.

Both the health care provisions and revamping the loan program for college students were sandwiched into a single piece of legislation — the budget-reconciliation bill approved last week by the House and Senate.

The San Francisco Chronicle summarizes how students and taxpayers benefit from these new student loan reforms.

President Obama signed important and welcome changes to the nation's campus loan program. The reforms should save the country billions and give more students a crack at a college degree.

Why it took so long is a minor scandal. Since the 1970s, federal money was doled out to banks to lend to students. In practice, though, the banks collected a healthy fee and fobbed off the bad loans to the government. It was a no-lose deal for these lenders.

But it endured, largely through fierce lobbying from lenders such as Sallie Mae. This year, the dam broke. The Senate and House voted to put Washington in charge of the loans, a shift estimated to save $68 billion over 10 years. That will allow loan limits to rise slightly, expand Pell Grants to defray tuition bills for needy students and invest $2 billion in community colleges.

But the changes didn't come easily, despite the sustained and gallant efforts of Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez.

Which is what made the signing ceremony all that more enjoyable. The Washington Post reported on the "ebullient mood" of the signing ceremony:

Pelosi vigorously clapped back at the crowd as camera flashes popped. When Obama later singled Pelosi out, calling her "amazing," the crowd jumped to its feet again. (Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) got a standing ovation, too).

Learn more about the reforms to federal student loans as well as the fixes to the health care reform legislation.

Yesterday, the House approved legislation that makes key improvements to the historic health reform law, and makes the single largest investment in college aid ever, at no additional cost to taxpayers.

The legislation makes health care even more affordable for the middle class, lowers prescription drug costs for seniors by closing the “donut hole” over time, reduces the deficit and strips out special deals that favored one state over another. The bill also makes the most sweeping changes to our federal student loan program in a generation.

This morning, the Speaker of the House enrolled the bill. The package will now go to President Obama’s desk for his signature. Below are some photos of the enrollment ceremony as well as a few of a surprise birthday cake for Speaker Pelosi on her birthday.

(The fourth topic of today's bipartisan White House health insurance reform meeting is  expanding health insurance coverage.)

Democrats are committed to providing health security to America’s families by guaranteeing everyone access to affordable, quality health insurance.  

No one should be forced into bankruptcy because of an illness.  Unfortunately, millions of Americans live in fear of just that while they are forced to go without health insurance because they don’t have access to affordable coverage either through their workplace or because of pre-existing conditions or age which make coverage unaffordable.  Millions more have coverage that fails to meet their needs when they need care.

The President's Proposal Expands Coverage. 

The plan provides coverage for 95% of all Americans – expanding health insurance coverage to over 31 million more Americans. It:

• Provides financial credits to make premiums and cost sharing more affordable for those who today simply cannot afford coverage and care.
• Expands Medicaid to cover those with the lowest income.
• Eliminates job lock and support a more mobile economy and entrepreneurship by ensuring continuous access to comprehensive, affordable coverage regardless of where you work or live, and regardless of your age and health status.
• Enacts real insurance reforms that will allow more people access to insurance and force insurance companies to compete on cost and quality rather than their current strategy of cherry picking only the healthy and young.
• Establishes shared responsibility among individuals, employers and the government so that all contribute to and benefit from a new system that guarantees quality, affordable coverage for all.
  

The President's Proposal Provides Options that Meet Individual Needs.

• Creates a new health insurance marketplace, called an Exchange, that will allow consumers to choose a health insurance plan that best meets their needs.  Ensures everyone has a place to access health care, including when they lose a job, as they age, or get sick.
• Requires insurers to cover essential benefits, including prevention and well child care, so that people know insurance will cover the items and services they need.
• Protects and improves Medicare by filling fill the Republican Medicare prescription drug donut hole, so that seniors will no longer be forced to pay the full cost of their medications during the current coverage gap.  And it makes additional improvements to Medicare to encourage the efficient delivery of high quality, well-coordinated care, eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, and extend Medicare solvency by more than nine years.
  

These expansions in coverage benefit everyone. Today, every family that has insurance is paying an extra $1,000 in premiums to cover the costs of the uninsured.  Covering everyone is not only the right thing to do, it is an economic imperative to help lower all of our premiums.