Affordable Care Act

19 Nov Affordable Care Act

Everyone knows about the Affordable Care Act, but most people don’t really know its goals and all that it entails. This act isn’t something that will start all at once—it has actually slowly been put into place since President Barack Obama signed the act on March 23^rd, 2010. Below is a reader’s digest version of the components of the Affordable Care Act.

To start, it focuses on coverage. This section had four primary concerns:

1. End Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions for Children: This is to prevent insurance companies from limiting or denying coverage to children 19 and under because of pre-existing conditions.
2. Keep Young Adults Covered: This is to keep people under 26 covered by their parents’ insurance plans.
3. End Arbitrary Withdrawals of Insurance Coverage: This is to protect people from a lapse in coverage because of any kind of mistake or paperwork error.
4. Guarantee Your Right to Appeal: This is to help people in case they need to ask their insurance company to reconsider denying their payment.

It then focuses on lowering costs for everything in three main ways:

1. End Lifetime Limits on Coverage: Under the act, there will be almost no lifetime limits on new health insurance plans.
2. Review Premium Increases: The passing of this act will also require insurance companies to publicly explain any significant raises in rates.
3. Help You Get the Most from Your Premium Dollars: The money you pay for your premium will no longer be able to go towards administrative costs.

The last focus of the Affordable Care Act is the care component, which also includes three important parts.

1. Cover Preventive Care at No Cost to You: You no longer have to wait to get sick because some preventative services will now be covered with no copay.
2. Protect Your Choice of Doctors: You can use your favorite primary care doctor and still have your appointments covered by your plan.
3. Remove Insurance Company Barriers to Emergency Services: You can receive coverage in emergency situations outside of your health plan’s network.

The Affordable Care Act should be in full effect by 2014, at which time every American citizen can look forward to these improvements in health care coverage.