Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) announced that many important consumer health care protections under the Affordable Care Act take effect today, six months after the bill was signed into law by President Obama.  Now, thousands of New York families, and millions of Americans, will avoid financial catastrophe should they become injured or sick.  The new Patient’s Bill of Rights, under the Affordable Care Act, contains provisions which end insurance company abuses, and puts consumers and doctors back in charge of health care.

“On the same day the House Republicans unleashed their plan which includes repealing many of the rights gained by Americans in the Affordable Care Act, millions of America’s poor and middle class will begin reaping the benefits of this law.  The Affordable Care Act is a giant step towards helping people care for themselves - physically, mentally and financially.  These are freedoms earned by Americans and made possible by the Democratic Congress and President Obama.  The Republican plan just gives a new name to the same old tired policies.  Those policies led to the corporate abuses and tragic stories of countless Americans, resulting from the old way of doing business,” said Rep. Engel, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health.

Going into effect today are the following freedoms:

• Freedom from Discrimination – No more denying children medical insurance because of how they were born, or how they became sick. The new law bans this discrimination and covers children even if they have a serious illness;
• Freedom from Cancellation – No longer will insurance companies be able to drop patients due to illness.  It is now illegal to cancel insurance for illness or clerical errors in their paperwork;
• Freedom from Bankruptcy – Companies used to limit care at the very moments hard working families lost the ability to pay for care.  As a result, far too many became penniless and lost their homes.  There are no longer limits on coverage in order to help prevent such tragedies;
• Freedom to Choose – Insurance companies used to tell you which doctors you can see – now patients have reclaimed this right when they purchase new plans;
• Freedom for Emergency Care – Insurance companies used to be able to deny coverage for emergency care.  You cannot control when or where you have an emergency and Americans deserve the right to obtain care when needed.  This law makes that possible to have out-of-network emergency room care at in-network cost-sharing rates, with the purchase of new plans starting today.

In addition, young adults still struggling to find employment which provides health care are now able to stay on their parents’ plan until age 26.  Also, consumers purchasing new plans have the right to preventative services without deductable or co-pay, and the right to both an internal and external appeal of coverage decisions.

“Any repeal of this legislation would force Americans to pay higher premiums, take life or death decisions away from patients and doctors, line the bank accounts of private insurance companies, and add hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt.  The Republican plan would take insurance away from people and their children.  It would explode the budget and the debt.  The law was designed to help reduce the overall cost of coverage – at first by a little, but then be a whole lot.  While I would prefer moving to a single-payer system, this law is infinitely better than anything which previously existed, a system simply being repackaged by Republicans in a prettier box,” said Rep. Engel.

New York residents will benefit in the following ways:

• 340,000 - New York Small businesses who may be eligible for tax credits this year;
• 246,000 - New York residents who hit the Medicare donut hole last year and could be eligible for rebates if they hit the donut hole this year;
• 2,880,00 - New York Medicare beneficiaries who will receive free preventative services and other benefits;
• 10,044,000 - New Yorkers who purchase private insurance and will not have to worry about lifetime limits being place on coverage and are protected from rescissions;
• 77,800 - New York young adults who could have quality affordable coverage through their parents;
• 109 - New York employers that have been approved for the early retiree reinsurance program as of August 31, and 283,000 early retirees who could benefit from the reinsurance program;
• 305,945 - New Yorkers who are new enrollees with Medicaid expansion

In New York’s 17^th district (Bronx, Rockland and Westchester Counties), there are over 580,000 residents under 65, of which 16% or over 95,000 are uninsured.  They will now have options beginning today, to obtain desperately needed insurance coverage.  Of those 95,000, there are over 22,000 young adults.  They will now be able to obtain coverage today. 

Beginning on October 1, community health centers will receive increased funding to account for the increase in patients over the next five years.  New York has over 500 such centers, including several in the 17^th District, and this funding will enhance them and enable the state to build more.  This is supplements the $2 billion for Community Health Centers in the Recovery Act. 

“Everyone knows a friend or a loved one who has developed cancer, or had a child suffering from asthma.  Everyone either has or knows a young adult who is just getting on their feet financially and is one car accident away from ruin.  Everyone knows someone who has had to be rushed to an emergency room, despite not being close to their insurance-preferred hospital.  Health concerns know no geographic boundaries, class status, financial standing, racial or ethnic background or political ideology.  To talk of repealing this law and snatching these rights away from Americans is simply ridiculous,” said Rep. Engel. 

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