Health Care Blog

Join Us for an Online Seniors’ Health Town Hall

This past Thursday, officials from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services held a town hall meeting to discuss how the health care law is helping women and families acros the country. On Monday June 11, we will turn our attention to America’s seniors when we host a a Seniors’ Health Town Hall. The event will be streamed live from the White House from 10 am to 11:30 am ET.

Similar to our Women’s Health Town Hall, this event will be an interactive, open dialogue about how the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, is improving the health and quality of life for the nation’s senior citizens by strengthening the Medicare program:

• It makes preventive services available for free. This includes mammograms, colonoscopies, and an annual wellness visit where seniors can spend more time with their doctor.
• It makes prescription drugs cheaper. Seniors who hit the donut hole get a 50 percent discount on their prescription drugs and the donut hole will be closed completely in the years ahead. It cracks down on waste, fraud and abuse.

Submit questions using the Twitter hashtag #SeniorsHealth or on the HealthCareGov Facebook page.

Insurance Rebates on the Way

Consumers across the country are starting to hear the good news about their health insurance costs. 

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, the new health care law, health insurers generally have to spend at least 80 percent of your premium dollars on health care and quality, not administrative overhead.  This minimum percentage is called a medical loss ratio.  If your insurer doesn’t meet or exceed this standard, they must rebate you the difference.

The rule encourages insurers to give you better value for your premium dollar and holds them accountable if they don’t. Last week, insurers were required to report the refunds that will go to consumers and small businesses later this summer and we have already started to see the effects:

• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has announced that it will pay $8.6 million to about 73,000 individual policyholders in August because they spent less than 80 percent of premiums on health care. 
• In Arizona, more than $36 million in refunds will go to both consumers and small businesses. One insurer in the state, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, alone will pay out an estimated $8.7 million to more than 77,000 individual policyholders, and another $3.2 million to more than 3,700 small businesses. United Healthcare's Golden Rule Insurance will refund nearly $8.7 million to more than 30,000 additional Arizona policyholders.
• Two insurers in California will pay out more than $50 million in rebates to nearly 1 million customers statewide.

This is just one way the new health care law is helping American families and businesses get a fair deal when it comes to their health care. Learn more at www.WhiteHouse.gov/healthreform.