Results tagged “news of the day” from EdLabor Journal

Mike Barnicle: What about the fact that unemployment benefits pumped into the economy are an immediate benefit to the economy. Immediate. 

John Shadegg: No, they're not.

…

Mike Barnicle: Let's go back to what you said about unemployment checks. Unemployment checks, people don't spend that money?

John Shadegg: No. they will spend as little as they can because they'll hold on to it as long as they can. In reality, they don't create jobs.

 

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Chairman Miller discussed public education and college affordability at Contra Costa Community College in San Pablo, Calif. on Tuesday.

The committee has held seven hearings on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (currently known as No Child Left Behind) during the 111th Congress. Chairman Miller has consistently stated his belief that the key to long-term economic recovery is a strong public education system. Richmond Confidential reported:

“‘In the middle of this economic chaos,’ [Miller] said, ‘this president knows we can’t compete in a world economy unless we modernize some of our basic systems.’”

…

“Creating a new standard educational model should incorporate the way that young people share information, he said.

“‘All of you create a huge amount of content every day, you teach your peers how to use that new phone, that new program,’ he said. ‘How do we call on people to participate in the educational process who are your peers?’”

Miller also spoke about the rising cost of college and how many students struggle to attain a college degree -- he wrote the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act to make college more affordable by increasing federal financial aid and making federal student loans easier to repay. Richmond Confidential recorded his comments:

“‘About half the people that show up for community college, they don’t show up for the second year,’ Miller said. ‘They don’t get the certificate they’re after, they don’t get the career opportunity, they don’t get the academic degree they were after and they may end up in debt.’

“Miller spoke in detail about recent reforms to the student loan industry. Subsidies worth $60 billion will be diverted over ten years from banks, which manage loans, to students in the form of grants and federal loans.

“The new law, he explained, also rewards those pursuing public service jobs. ‘If you get in the public health and education sectors, after ten years your loans go away,’ he said, ‘because you’re giving something back.’”

More students are taking advantage of the Pell Grant scholarship nationwide; the scholarship has become critical for students and families during these tough economic times.

The maximum Pell Grant was raised to a record $5,550 in 2010 due to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), authored by Chairman Miller and signed by President Obama in March. Not only has Miller worked to increase federal financial aid, he has made college loans more affordable – the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 has lowered interest rates on need-based student loans from 6.8 percent to the current 4.5 percent.  The rates will drop again to 3.4 percent in July 2011.

Springfield, Ohio’s Springfield News-Sun wrote that the number of undergraduates relying on Pell Grants has increased:

“An increasing number of students locally and nationally have been receiving financial aid through the Federal Pell Grant Program.

“In Clark County, the recipients of the need-based grant increased more than 5,500 students between academic year 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. In the same time period, the grant disbursement increased by $26.9 million.”

The Herald Sun of Durham, North Carolina had similar news to report:

“According to recent figures issued by the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, the number of Pell Grant recipients in North Carolina's 4th Congressional District rose 35 percent last year. The district, which includes all of Durham and Orange counties and parts of Wake and Chatham, had 27,471 students who qualified for the aid during the 2009-10 academic year, an increase of 7,145 over the year before.”

…

“Adding to the increase is that under a new student-loan bill signed by President Barack Obama in March, the Pell's Grant's eligibility criteria have changed, and that's made it a little easier to qualify than in the past, Ort and Rome both said.

“Equally important is that the Pell Grant is now authorized for summer school, for the first time.”

Tips for Applying for Federal Student Aid

The Associated Press wrote today that the 111th Congress holds a “record of achievement unseen in years.” The report read:

“Not since the explosive years of the civil rights movement and the hard-fought debut of government-supported health care for the elderly and poor have so many big things -- love them or hate them -- been done so quickly.

“Gridlock? It may feel that way. But that's not the story of the 111th Congress -- not the story history will remember.”

The AP specifically referenced many of Chairman Miller’s achievements when listing important legislation Congressional Democrats have passed, including “a giant step toward universal [health care] coverage”, “an economic stimulus package… to avoid a full-blown depression”,  “making college loans more affordable” and “making it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination.”

Chairman Miller pledged in 2008 to keep the Education and Labor Committee focused on rebuilding and strengthening the middle class during the 111th Congress.

The Associated Press reported important news for workers today, “Quarterly 401(k) statements are going to start offering more guidance about exactly where your money is going.” Yesterday, the Department of Labor unveiled a rule that will require 401 (k) accounts to disclose all fees taken from the account’s value – in plain language.

In response to the new Department of Labor rule, Chairman Miller stated:

“I am pleased that the Department of Labor has taken another step to expose hidden fees contained in America’s 401(k) plans.  While families are making difficult choices to put something away for their retirement, it is essential that they know how fees may be eating away at their savings and potentially delaying their retirement plans.”

Chairman Miller has fought for 401 (k) fee disclosure for years. Miller authored the 401(k) Fair Disclosure and Pension Security Act in 2009, and pushed for fee disclosure provisions to be included in similar Senate legislation.

USA Today underscored the importance of the new rule:

“Until now, even if workers were given abundant retirement plan investment information they did not always receive it in a user-friendly format. The new rule for 401(k)-type retirement plans will provide workers with tools to easily match up one investment option with another.”

Chairman Miller, alongside NFL representatives, visited Pinole Valley High School on Monday to talk to students and parents in his congressional district about the dangers of concussions and unveil a new CDC poster that helps athletes understand the signs and symptoms of a concussion. The West County Times reported:

“A national campaign aimed at curtailing the number of brain injuries suffered by student athletes was introduced Monday at Pinole Valley High School, where a concussion awareness poster was unveiled at a news conference held by federal officials and representatives of the National Football League.

“‘There was a time when athletes who left the field because of a concussion were told to suck it up and go back out and play,’ said Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez. Instead, he said, athletes should be told, ‘When in doubt, sit it out.’

“The poster being distributed by the federal Centers for Disease Control is similar to one now found in NFL locker rooms and describes possible symptoms on brain injuries that could be worsened if not diagnosed.”

Chairman Miller also spoke about legislation he recently introduced, the Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act. San Francisco’s ABC affiliate, KGO, reported:

“Miller has introduced legislation that would set safety standards for public schools in dealing with concussions. This after hearing horror stories from student athletes during a Congressional hearing.

“‘In one case, a student is fully disabled because of an injury in a softball game with multiple concussions [which were] improperly diagnosed,’ says Miller.

“The stories were enough to move Miller to carry the ball on the danger of concussions.”

Watch a Contra Costa Times report on Chairman Miller's press conference below:

In January of 2007, Chairman Miller celebrated House passage of the Fair Minimum Wage Act, legislation he authored that was signed into law over three years ago. The law increased the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three equal steps and has benefited millions of our nation’s most vulnerable workers during the economic downturn.

After the final minimum wage adjustment in the Fair Minimum Wage Act increased hourly wages from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour in July 2009, the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute wrote that the increase was expected to significantly boost consumer spending across the country.

Today, Chairman Miller is standing up for the minimum wage as some Republican congressional candidates threaten the law. The Huffington Post reported:

“Rep. George Miller (D-Cali.), who led the effort in Congress to raise the minimum wage in 2007, is taking issue with Republican candidates' recent statements that the federal policy should be rolled back and hasn't helped improve the economic position of the country.

“‘Well, it [their statements] sort of shows two things," Miller told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. ‘One, how clearly they're captive of the billionaire boys club, and two, how disconnected they are from working people in this country, who are trying to get [ahead for] for their families.’

“Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller attracted national attention on Monday for saying that the federal minimum wage should be abolished. ‘That is not within the scope of the powers that are given to the federal government,’ he told ABC News. Late last week, Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon was quoted as saying, in vague terms, that she'd be open to the idea of adjusting the federal minimum wage laws. West Virginia Senate candidate John Raese, who has long advocated that it be abolished, also said the federal law ‘hasn't worked’.”

Miller continued:

"When a national debate is over giving tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires, and these people think that it's people working at the minimum wage that's holding people back, it's an outrage." 

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, authored an op-ed in the Miami Herald yesterday calling community colleges “America’s gateway to the future.” A community college instructor herself, Dr. Biden chaired yesterday’s White House Summit on Community Colleges. Her sentiments are shared by Chairman Miller, who wrote key community college provisions into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act to improve community college job training programs and give students the academic support they need to succeed. Dr. Biden wrote:

“In order to restore America's economic competitiveness and prosperity, the Obama administration has set a goal of once again having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020 -- 10 short years away. Community colleges are central to this effort, and the president has specifically called on community colleges to help an additional 5 million Americans earn degrees and certificates in that time. Our challenge is to help these institutions meet the pressing education and job training needs of millions of students working to achieve the American dream. Students just like the ones in my classroom, whose lives are changed by the confidence and opportunity they gain from a quality education.”

…

“In the coming months, we will announce the first $500 million of a $2 billion, four-year investment in community colleges authorized by Congress and signed into law on March 30. This federal investment will support new state-of-the-art education, training and skills development programs to help out-of-work Americans re-enter the job market with increased knowledge and more marketable skills. The funds will enable community colleges to work with universities, business, government and unions to develop career pathways leading to more college graduates ready for the workforce as our economy recovers. In addition, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Obama administration has invested billions of dollars specifically in community colleges.”

The front page of today’s Washington Post article features an article titled Mine safety’s black hole. The report reminds us all that nine men have died in coal mines since the Upper Big Branch tragedy six months ago and that a legislative response to this issue is needed. The Post wrote:

“In the weeks after the worst U.S. coal-mining accident in 40 years, federal safety inspectors showed up repeatedly at a mine that snakes under the West Virginia hills: Loveridge No. 22.

“On July 26, an inspector cited the mine for concerns that walls might crumble. He noted that this made 87 citations for problems with the roof or walls over two years.

“Three days later, a chunk of rock 16 feet long and 41/2 feet high broke away from the mine's wall, according to a federal accident report. Miner Jessie Adkins, 39, was caught beneath it.

“He died before he got to a hospital.

“Adkins is one of nine men who have died inside U.S. coal mines in the six months since the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia, in which 29 men were killed on April 5. This string of accidents has revealed key shortfalls in a push by the Obama administration to improve mine safety.”

Chairman Miller introduced the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Act in May to address this “black hole”. The law would strengthen the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s (MSHA) pattern of violations tool. The Washington Post discussed MSHA’s inability to use this enforcement program effectively:

“…federal regulators still have trouble using their power to temporarily shut down mines that have a ‘pattern of violations.’ That provision in the law has not been used successfully in 32 years.

“Last week, the Mine Safety and Health Administration announced new criteria that could simplify that process. Bills introduced in Congress would expand whistle-blower protections for miners, give the MSHA subpoena power and provide federal regulators with more authority to close unsafe mines. Legislation has stalled on the Senate side.”

The Post also referenced the large backlog of mine safety appeals, an issue that the Education and Labor Committee discussed in February:

“Trying to explain why repeated federal citations didn't prevent fatalities, safety experts pointed to the same problems that surfaced after the Upper Big Branch blast. The backlog of appeals cases has grown - clogged by the new citations - meaning that companies can delay payments for years.

“At Consol, for instance, the company has contested 31 percent of the safety citations issued to its mines since January. That's more than 1,000 citations, with fines totaling $2.6 million, which won't be paid until the cases are resolved.”

The House approved legislation to reduce the backlog of over 17,000 cases involving mine operator appeals of safety and health violation in July. The Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Act awaits Senate action.

The University of California system has reported that 39% of its undergraduates receive Pell Grants – the highest level of students receiving federal financial aid in UC history. The Los Angeles Times reported:

“An estimated 70,000 UC undergraduates are receiving federal Pell grants, which typically are awarded to students with family incomes below $50,000. According to the report, that is the largest number in UC history and represents 39% of its undergraduates, up from 35% last year.”

Last year, the Democratic Congress raised Pell scholarships to their highest level in history, $5,550 in 2010. The increase in federal financial aid was part of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), legislation drafted by Chairman Miller. SAFRA will help the country reach President Obama’s goal of producing the most college graduates by 2020 by helping make college affordable for American families.

University of California President Mark Yudof shared his news by visiting Grant Union High School in Del Paso Heights, Calif., telling students that a college education is not out of reach. The Sacramento Bee heard reaction from students:

“‘I'm from a low-income family and this makes me want to go to college even more,’ said Grant High junior Alana Gerasimchuk. ‘It makes me confident that I can go to UC Berkeley.’

“Former Grant High student CrystalKay Fairrington said it's important for kids in Del Paso Heights and other communities to know there are opportunities out there. Fairrington, who also spoke at the pep rally, attends UC Berkeley.

‘Students think it's beyond their reach, and it's not,” she said.” 

Yesterday, the Obama administration awarded grants to 49 states and the District of Columbia to help them design online health insurance exchanges.  The Los Angeles Times reported:

"These state-based exchanges, a key foundation of the new healthcare law, are to become the central Internet-based marketplace for consumers who do not get health benefits at work.

"By 2019, about 24 million Americans are expected to shop for coverage on the exchanges, choosing among health plans offering a variety of benefits that meet basic government standards."

Also yesterday, California Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a law creating a new exchange for that state. The Mercury News reported:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made California the first state to create an insurance exchange under new federal health care reform as he ended the bill signing period Thursday by also approving bills addressing topics ranging from kindergarten to foster care."
...

"The state's landmark health care legislation sets up an oversight board for an insurance exchange that will let consumers comparison-shop for coverage. Other bills in the package bar insurers from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition and let young adults stay on their parents' health care plans until they turn 26."

Chairman Miller applauded Gov. Schwarzenegger's action.

“'California families and small businesses are being crushed by health costs and dwindling benefits,' said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. 'The health exchange law signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger will ensure that insurance companies compete in an open and transparent marketplace, putting consumers in the driver’s seat, thereby driving down costs and making coverage more predictable.'"

Chairman Miller was in New York City on September 28 taking part in NBC’s Education Nation Summit. Before discussing his views on education reform with other policymakers, teachers, students and parents he appeared on The Today Show, Squawk Box, and Morning Joe to discuss education policy and jobs.
 

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Watch Chairman Miller on Morning Joe, the Today Show and Squawk Box:


 
 

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In early March, the House approved legislation to protect children from harmful restraint and seclusion in school. The Keeping All Students Safe Act was a response to a 2009 GAO report that uncovered hundreds of allegations that schoolchildren have been abused, and some even died, as a result of inappropriate uses of seclusion and restraint in classrooms. These practices have been used disproportionately on children with disabilities. A recent article by NBC 8 of Grand Rapids, Mich. demonstrates the importance of this legislation:

“The family of a pre-schooler filed a lawsuit against the Mona Shores School District for restraining the disabled child in a chair for the entire school day for one semester, according to the suit.

“Ethan Holden was a special ed student at Ross Park Elementary School, documents say. His mother came to a class Christmas party in December 2008 and saw her son strapped in a chair, his feet lifted off the ground.

“She later learned this is how Ethan spent his days, the lawsuit says. Alan and Nichole Holden claim they were never informed of their son's restraint. Ethan has a speech problem and couldn't communicate easily with his teachers and other staff.

“The child had fallen over while strapped in the chair as he tried to escape, according to the suit, filed in July in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.”

The Holden family traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak with Chairman Miller about their experience in late 2009. The Keeping All Students Safe Act would establish minimum safety standards in schools to protect children like Ethan from this abuse.

In the past four years, there were nearly 400,000 reported concussions in high school athletes. These young athletes are at the highest risk for long-term brain damage from concussions and often are not even aware that the injury has occurred.

The Education and Labor Committee today held a hearing on legislation that would better educate students, parents and coaches about the danger of concussions in young athletes. Witnesses included a former NFL player, a neurologist, a high school athlete and a mother grieving the loss of her young son. CNN reported on the hearing:

“The House Education and Labor Committee's hearing came after news last week about the first active college football player known to have a debilitating condition usually seen in retired or aging athletes who've suffered repeated head injuries.

“Researchers at the Boston University School of Medicine Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy revealed that a 21-year-old defensive lineman, Owen Thomas, had mild stages of a type of brain damage called chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

“Thomas, a captain of the University of Pennsylvania football team and a student at the Wharton School of Business, hung himself in his room in April.

 “Owen Thomas, 21, was found to have mild stages of a type of brain damage called chronic traumatic encephalopathyCTE, which is a type of brain damage, has been more typically seen in older former athletes and can cause neurobehavioral disorders and bizarre behavior, including suicide. It is impossible to determine whether Thomas' brain condition and suicide were linked.

“‘The only possible explanation we can see for the presence of CTE is that Owen started to play football at the age of 9,’ his mother, Rev. Katherine Brearley of Allentown, Pennsylvania, said in her testimony at the hearing.”

The Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act would help improve concussion safety and management for student athletes by requiring school districts to develop and implement a community-based plan for concussion safety and management.

And it’s not just football players who are at higher risk, as witness Alison Conca-Cheng showed. USA Today wrote:

“That point was brought home by Alison Conca-Cheng, a 17-year-old high school soccer player and honors student from Ellicott City, Md., who suffered a concussion when she collided with a teammate's head in a practice game.

“‘I had tunnel vision,’ she told the committee. ‘Then I had severe balance problems and lingering headaches. I was dazed and confused.’

“Conca-Cheng had taken a pre-season computerized baseline concussion test, which she was required to repeat after the injury. In two attempts, she failed to match her pre-injury scores on tests of short-term memory and reading and was kept out of practice for two weeks.”

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.

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 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.