Affordable Care Act and Health Care

All American citizens deserve to have access to good and affordable health care. Thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, millions more Americans are able to secure affordable, quality and accessible health care. Signed into law in 2010, Americans of all ages are already seeing expanded health insurance coverage and cost savings. Congresswoman Maloney is a proud supporter of this historic law that makes for a healthier America and strengthens the country’s economic security.

New Yorkers looking for health insurance can log on to http://www.nystateofhealth.ny.gov/ or call 1-855-355-5777 to compare and shop for health insurance plans. To apply for health insurance as an individual or family, you will answer a series of questions about your household and income to determine eligibility for public insurance, tax credits, or premium subsidies. On average, New Yorkers with incomes below 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($45,960 for individuals and $94,200 for a family of four) will receive financial assistance in the form of federal tax credits to make coverage more affordable. You can estimate your potential tax credit and insurance premium here at the New York State of Health website.

If you need assistance understanding how to pick an insurance plan and enroll, there are designated Navigators in your area who can help guide you through the process. Select your county in this map from the NYS exchange to find a Navigator near you.

For the most up-to-date information regarding the Affordable Care Act and how it affects you, please visit the New York State of Health website. For other health care questions and concerns, please visit healthcare.gov.

Impacts of the Affordable Care Act

Five years after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, it is clear that the Affordable Care Act is working:

• Improving Coverage: Nationwide, since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, 16.4 million previously uninsured Americans have secured affordable, quality health coverage.

• Improving Affordability: Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, health care prices have risen at the slowest rate in nearly 50 years. Thanks to exceptionally slow growth in per-person costs throughout our health care system, national health expenditures grew at the slowest rate on record from 2010 through 2013.

• Improving Quality: The Affordable Care Act has helped improve the quality of health care, contributing to 50,000 fewer patient deaths in hospitals due to avoidable harms, like an infection or medication error.

A report was released by the Department of Health and Human Services showing all the different ways in which the people in New York are benefiting from the Affordable Care Act.  Here are some of the key findings in that report:

• Drop in uninsured rate in New York under the ACA:  Due to the ACA, the uninsured rate in New York fell from 12.6 percent in 2013 to 10.1 percent in 2014.

• Marketplace coverage of individuals in New York:  For 2015, 408,841 consumers are enrolled in quality, affordable health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace in New York. 74 percent of those enrolled qualified for a tax credit that will help them afford their coverage.

• Medicaid/CHIP coverage for additional individuals in New York:  As of January 2015, 569,023 individuals in New York have gained Medicaid or CHIP coverage since the beginning of ACA enrollment in October 2013. 

• Savings in premiums for individuals in New York: The ACA contains provisions that prevent insurers from spending more than 20% of their premiums on profits and administrative overhead.  Because of these protections, 617,465 individuals in New York with private insurance coverage have benefited from $12,147,281 in refunds from insurance companies.

• Elimination of lifetime limits on coverage for individuals in New York:  Since September 2010, the health care law has prohibited insurers from placing a lifetime limit on coverage.  As a result, in New York, 6,432,000 people, including 2,529,000 women and 1,609,000 children, are now free from worrying about lifetime limits on coverage.

• Protection for individuals with pre-existing conditions in New York:   Since January 2014, the health care law has prohibited insurers from denying coverage to individuals for having a pre-existing health condition.  Because of this provision, up to 8,616,234 individuals in New York with pre-existing conditions are being protected from denial of coverage.    

• Expanded access to free preventive services for individuals in private plans in New York:  Since September 2010, the health care law has provided expanded access to free preventive services for those enrolled in most private plans.  As a result, 4,695,000 individuals in private plans in New York now have health insurance that covers preventive services without any co-pays, coinsurance, or deductible.

• Lower drug costs for seniors in New York: The health care law is providing major savings in drug costs for seniors in the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ because the law closes the ‘donut hole’ over 10 years.  Because of this provision, since the enactment of the ACA, seniors in New York have saved a total of $1,150,173,343 on their prescription drugs. 

• Free preventive services for seniors in New York.  Under the ACA, beginning in 2011, Medicare now provides free coverage of key preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies.  In 2014 alone, because of this provision, 2,387,588 seniors and people with disabilities enrolled in Medicare in New York used one or more free preventive services.