The Affordable Care Act's New Patient's Bill of Rights

On June 23, 2010, President Obama delivered remarks in the East Room of the White House, announcing the release of new regulations implementing the New Patient’s Bill of Rights protections included in the Affordable Care Act.

The enactment of the New Patient’s Bill of Rights protections is truly historic. These protections include many key protections that were included in the Patient’s Bill of Rights many Members of Congress attempted to enact in the mid- and late 1990s – such as protecting patients’ choice of doctors and removing insurance company barriers to emergency room services.  The protections also include new protections not included in the 1990s, such as eliminating lifetime limits on coverage.

The regulations being issued by the new Bill of Rights implement the following New Patient’s Bill of Rights protections:

• Protecting your choice of doctors
• Removing insurance company barriers to emergency department services
• Prohibiting insurance plans from denying coverage or limiting benefits for children with pre-existing conditions
•  Banning arbitrary rescissions of insurance coverage
• Prohibiting insurance plans from placing lifetime limits on coverage
• Restricting the annual dollar limits on coverage by insurance plans

 
For the Administration’s fact sheet on the New Patient’s Bill of Rights protections, click here.
 

Source: Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi