Healthcare
Take a video tour of Healthcare.gov by clicking on the image above, or go to www.healthcare.gov. |
The greatest problem in our current health insurance system has been inadequate access to quality, affordable care for all Americans. Regrettably, hundreds of constituents from Northwest Indiana contact Pete's office each year seeking help with healthcare issues.
"I believe that I have an obligation to put my constituents' needs above the needs of insurance companies and support efforts to improve the system."
That is why Pete supported P.L. 111-148, also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Pete believes that it will fundamentally and positively change lives. P.L. 111-148 provides access for an additional 32 million Americans to quality and affordable health insurance coverage and enacts reforms to protect those who have health insurance now.
The intent of this law is not to jeopardize, reduce, or eliminate benefits for individuals who currently have access to care, but to better position Americans to provide for their own healthcare needs and those of their loved ones.
As of January 1, 2012, the following provisions are in effect:
- Insurance companies cannot arbitrarily drop coverage when a person gets sick.
- Sick children cannot be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.
- New insurance options are available for individuals that are locked out of the market due to pre-existing conditions.
- Young adults up to age 26 are allowed to stay on their parents’ family policy.
- Insurance companies are prohibited from placing restrictive lifetime caps on coverage. (These annual limits will be completely eliminated by 2014.)
- Eligible small businesses that currently provide their employees with health insurance coverage receive tax credits of up to 35% of the cost of premiums.
- Seniors now receive a 50% discount on brand-name drugs as they enter their coverage gap. (As seniors participating in the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program reached the Donut Hole in 2010, they received one-time payments of $250.)
- Co-payments for preventative services under Medicare are eliminated.
- Insurance companies must now spend at least 80% of premiums on medical services.
- Insurance companies must publish on the Internet detailed justifications for premium increases that are more than 10%.
- Participants in a new insurance plan now have free coverage of key preventative services, including mammograms, immunizations, and other cancer screenings.
- Eliminated out-of-pocket expenses for preventative care services.
Click here to see a timeline of the healthcare provisions that are in effect and what is to come.
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