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“Without the Affordable Care Act, I simply could not have retired at 62.”

Read more stories at WhiteHouse.gov/Get-Covered.
Donald L., Palm Coast, FL

Health Care Blog

  • Investing in America’s Health Care Workforce

    Posted by Jon Carson on April 11, 2012 at 4:52 PM EDT

    In too many communities across America, residents do not have easy access to a primary health care provider. As a medical student in Baltimore, Maryland, Christin Donnelly has seen the impact that has on families and communities:

    “My experiences working in inner city Baltimore and rural western Maryland have shown me how fulfilling it is to provide healthcare for those who need it the most.  I enjoy the challenge and believe that I can maximize the wonderful education I have been given by working with these underserved populations.”

    Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more Americans will have access to health care from a compassionate doctor or nurse like Christin – receiving part of $9.1 million in National Health Service Corps funding being distributed to medical students at schools in 30 states and the District of Columbia – who will serve as primary care doctors and help strengthen the health care workforce.

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    Learn more about Economy, Education, Health Care, Working Families

  • Nancy-Care: Making Insurance More Affordable for Small Businesses

    Posted by Dori Salcido on April 11, 2012 at 3:35 PM EDT

    Nancy Clark is the owner of Glen Group, a small advertising and marketing agency in North Conway, New Hampshire, which serves people from across the state. As a small business owner, Nancy is mindful of her business’ expenses, and has had to cut back where she could. But one thing that Nancy tells us she never considered cutting was the health insurance she offers to her employees.

     

    “My personal philosophy is health care is a right and it should be affordable,” Nancy says. “So here as a very small business owner, I will always offer the mechanism by which people can have access to health care.” 

    The small business tax credit provided by the Affordable Care Act was important to Nancy’s company. For 2010 and 2011, the credit helped with Glen Group’s bottom line. And now that the economy and Nancy’s business are getting stronger, she says: “My hope is that in 2012 we will … take that tax credit and I would like to use it to pay down deductibles or even to pay … one co-pay or two co-pays.”

    Includes Video
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  • What the Health Law Means for the Latino Community

    Posted by Leon Rodriguez on April 10, 2012 at 7:54 PM EDT

    Ed note: this was originally posted on the Healthcare.gov blog

    Across the country, more than 50 million Latinos are part of our communities, classrooms and workplaces. And thanks to the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 5.4 million Latinos will gain insurance coverage by 2016 under the new law, according to an issue brief released by HHS today (go here to read it in Spanish). Just two years after it was passed, the health care law has already improved health outcomes and increased access to care for Latinos by:

    • Extending coverage to an estimated 736,000 Latino young adults under a provision that allows them to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26,
    • Expanding access to preventive services with no-cost sharing to an estimated 6.1 million Latino Americans with private insurance, and
    • Requiring most health insurance plans to cover prevention and wellness services like cancer screenings, flu shots , and pap smears and mammograms for women, with no cost-sharing.

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  • Qué significa la ley de salud para la comunidad latina

    Posted by Leon Rodriguez on April 10, 2012 at 7:38 PM EDT

    Nota de Ed: esto fue publicado originalmente en el blog de CuidadoDeSalud.gov

    Qué significa la ley de salud para la comunidad latina

    En todo el país hay más de 50 millones de latinos que forman parte de nuestras comunidades, aulas y lugares de trabajo. Y gracias a la ley de cuidados de salud, la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio, se estima que 5.4 millones de latinos recibirán una cobertura de seguro para 2016 de acuerdo con la nueva ley, según un resumen emitido hoy por el HHS (haga clic aquí para leerlo en español). Tan solo dos años después de haberse aprobado, la ley de cuidados de salud ya ha mejorado los resultados de salud y aumentado el acceso a la atención para los latinos al:

    • ampliar la cobertura a un estimado de 736,000 adultos jóvenes latinos mediante una disposición que les permite permanecer en el seguro médico de sus padres hasta cumplir los 26,
    • ampliar el acceso a servicios preventivos sin costos compartidos para aproximadamente 6.1 millones de estadounidenses latinos con seguro privado, y
    • exigir a la mayoría de los planes de seguro médico que cubran los servicios de prevención y bienestar, como los controles de cáncer, las vacunas contra la gripe y las pruebas de Papanicolau y los mamogramas para las mujeres, sin gastos compartidos.

    Mientras que el 16.3 por ciento de los estadounidenses no tienen actualmente un seguro, el porcentaje de latinos sin seguro médico es incluso más alto, en un 30.7 por ciento. A medida que la ley siga implementándose:

    • los latinos de todos los niveles de ingresos, que de otra forma estarían sin seguro, tendrán acceso a un seguro médico mediante los intercambios de seguros asequibles y como resultado de la cobertura ampliada de Medicaid,
    • los estadounidenses latinos que sufran de una enfermedad crónica -como los 4.3 millones de latinos adultos que actualmente viven con diabetes- tendrán acceso a nuevas innovaciones en la atención, como los equipos de salud comunitarios, que los ayudarán a controlar su enfermedad, y
    • los latinos que vivan en áreas marginadas desde el punto de vista médico tendrán acceso a nuevos centros de salud comunitarios y servicios preventivos y de atención primaria.

    Para conocer más acerca de la repercusión de la Ley del Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio en la comunidad latina, participe hoy, 10 de abril, de nuestra conversación en español por Twitter. Puede unirse a la conversación, que comienza a las 2 p.m., hora estándar del este, siguiendo el hashtag #LaSaludLatina y en @HHSLatino.

    Puede leer el informen en inglés aquíy en español aquí. Para ver la hoja de datos, visite esta página.

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  • New Partnerships to Coordinate Care for Medicare Patients

    Posted by Rick Gilfillan on April 10, 2012 at 1:14 PM EDT

    Ed note: this was originally posted on the Healthcare.gov blog

    The Affordable Care Act is bringing real change to a health care system that has cost us too much and could do a better job to keep Americans healthy.  As a result the law, the Department of Health and Human Services has been partnering with doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other medical providers to help patients get the best care anywhere.

    Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs, are one of these new ways for doctors, hospitals, and other providers to be rewarded based on the quality of care they provide for patients, not just on how many tests they order or how many procedures they do.

    Today, HHS announced 27 new ACOs have joined this partnership – and over 150 more potential ACOs have submitted an application to begin in July.  There is enthusiasm and energy behind this program from all parts of the country, from all parts of the health care sector.

    Already, 32 “Pioneer ACOs” representing health care groups with experience coordinating care for patients have been participating in a special demonstration program since the beginning of the year to improve Medicare beneficiaries’ health and experience of care, and reduce growth in health care spending.

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    Learn more about Economy, Health Care

  • Official Sources Agree: The Affordable Care Act Reduces the Deficit

    Posted by Jeanne Lambrew on April 9, 2012 at 10:49 PM EDT

    Today, we are reading about another brand of “new math” in describing how the Affordable Care Act will affect our nation’s Federal budget deficit. In another attempt to refight the battles of the past, one former Bush Administration official is wrongly claiming that some of the savings in the Affordable Care Act are “double-counted” and that the law actually increases the deficit. This claim is false.

    According to the official Administration and Congressional scorekeepers, the Affordable Care Act will reduce the deficit: its costs are more than fully paid for.  The Office of Management and Budget and Congressional Budget Office project lower Federal budget deficits as a result of the law. The Congressional Budget Office is charged with assessing how legislation would affect the deficit. When the health care bill was passed by Congress, CBO wrote:

    “CBO and JCT estimate that enacting both pieces of legislation—H.R. 3590 and the reconciliation proposal—would produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010–2019 period as result of changes in direct spending and revenues.”

    When Congressional Republicans sought to repeal the law, CBO found that eliminating the law would increase the deficit. CBO wrote:

    “[T]he effect of H.R. 2 on federal deficits as a result of changes in direct spending and revenues is likely to be an increase in the vicinity of $230 billion, plus or minus the effects of technical and economic changes to CBO’s and JCT’s projections for that period.”

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