Health Care Blog

Changing Health Care Implementation: As Told by the Stories of the American People

Posted by Adam Searing on March 21, 2012 at 10:30 AM EDT

As we face a momentous month for the new health care law, being selected as a Champion of Change is both an honor and a responsibility. For anyone like myself who has devoted their professional life to expanding access and improving quality of health care for everyone - and I have the good fortune to work with colleagues across both the state and country who also fit this description - this is a great recognition. However, this honor is also an acknowledgement of the hard work ahead in helping people understand the law’s benefits and in working both in our state and nationally to successfully implement the law.

Luckily, the North Carolina Justice Center and its now two-decade-old Health Access Coalition that I lead are uniquely qualified to play a large role in doing this work. Expansion of health programs like Medicaid to many more very low income Americans is an important part of the new health law. Our organization has played a significant role in expanding and protecting NC’s Medicaid program since 1997 and so knows the pitfalls and opportunities involved in finally bringing good health coverage to some of the poorest people in our state. Now we are working with state experts and policymakers to ensure this latest Medicaid expansion is effective and reaches the farthest corners of North Carolina.

We also have the policy expertise to represent consumer interests as we begin to create state health exchanges - our policy analyst Adam Linker is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable experts in the state on the health law’s health exchanges and is bringing his knowledge and influence to the national level as a consumer representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

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Breaking it Down: The Health Law and Young Adults

Posted by Chris Stenrud on March 21, 2012 at 10:20 AM EDT

Ed note: This was originally posted on healthcare.gov

The Affordable Care Act – the new health care law – gives hard-working families the security they need and important new benefits. The law holds insurance companies accountable, gets rid of the worst insurance industry practices and puts patients first. It is also expanding young adults’ affordable options for health insurance. A new study shows that 30% of young adults ages 19 to 25 who initially had private health insurance in 2008 were uninsured for at least one month over the next two years. Young adults were particularly at risk of losing coverage because they may have aged out of their parents’ coverage, moved between school and employment or changed jobs. Yet now, the number of young adults with health insurance continues to rise under the health care law.

Here are five ways the law helps young adults:
1. Young adults can stay on their parent’s health insurance up to the age of 26. This is the case even if they’re married or live on their own. This provision resulted in 2.5 million young people gaining coverage. For young adults, this new protection means that they will have the freedom to make career choices based on what they want to do, not on where they can get health insurance. And for parents, it means they can breathe a little easier knowing their children are covered.
2. The law offers free prevention benefits that keep people healthy. Now, young adults can receive recommended preventive services, like flu shots, HIV and cancer screenings, contraceptive counseling and FDA-approved birth control, with no cost sharing. Visit www.healthcare.gov/prevention for a full list of services and plan dates.
3. Coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. For people who have been uninsured for six months and can’t buy private insurance because of a pre-existing condition, they may be able to join the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan. And under the new law, no plan can deny coverage to people under age 19 because of a pre-existing condition. To find out about plans available in your State, please visit http://www.pcip.gov.
4. Insurers cannot put limits on coverage. In the past, some people with cancer or other chronic illnesses ran out of insurance coverage because their health care expenses reached a dollar limit imposed by their insurance company. Under the health care law, insurers can no longer impose lifetime dollar limits on essential health benefits and annual limits are being phased out by 2014. Also, insurance companies can no longer drop people when they get sick due to a mistake you made on your application.
5. Starting in 2014, there will be more options through the Affordable Care Act for coverage for young adults. New Affordable Insurance Exchanges, tax credits and the improvements to Medicaid will result in at least 30 million more insured people, including as many as 10 million young adults. For young adults, lacking affordable health care will soon become a thing of the past.
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The Affordable Care Act is Saving Lives

Posted by Jan Gilbert on March 21, 2012 at 10:07 AM EDT

As we approach the second anniversary of passage of the Affordable Care Act, I am reminded of the ways in which this legislation has impacted the lives of Nevada’s most vulnerable residents. The ACA has already begun to change the lives of Nevadans in ways that I have fought for since becoming the first person hired to advocate specifically for women and children in the Nevada Legislature in the late 1980’s.For people working as I and my organization have, it is a fitting time to reflect on and to take note of some of these important changes.

Prior to passage of the ACA, Nevada trailed far behind the rest of the country in nearly every health indicator; Nevada ranked at or near the bottom in the number insured adults and children accessing Medicaid or other forms of health coverage. Our state woefully underfunded public health programs and struggled to provide matching funds for Federally-available assistance. In 1995-1997, PLAN sponsored the first HIV/AIDS Awareness Day at the Legislature. It was largely because of these efforts that Nevada finally passed legislation to provide matching funds for programs to aid those too impoverished to afford medication.

PLAN joined the short-lived efforts in the early 1990s to bring about meaningful reform to the nation’s health care delivery system. After that battle and subsequent setback, I wondered if I would see relief for our fellow citizens in my lifetime. Nevada began to fall further behind as the years went by, suffering continued rounds of erosion to our safety net. When President Obama promised to take up the banner of bringing meaningful health reform to all, our state was at an all-time low: Rates of uninsured and underinsured Nevadans had skyrocketed; health disparities were at their highest levels since data tracking began; and, the state was spending startlingly little on the health care needs of its most vulnerable populations. Because of these horrifying statistics, there was never a question that PLAN would join with the President and allies in Congress to once again take on one of the biggest challenges in our lives—meaningful health reform that would do nothing less than save the lives of millions of Americans and provide for a brighter and healthier future.

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StevenCare: Insurance for Young Adults Under Age 26

Posted by Colleen Curtis on March 21, 2012 at 10:00 AM EDT

Ed note: This was originally posted on healthcare.gov

The health care law, the Affordable Care Act, is giving young people like Steven Giallourakis, a bass player, pianist and two-time cancer survivor from Cleveland, the tools they need to fight for their health. At the same time, Steven’s mom Angie has peace of mind that her son is getting the care he needs to stay healthy.

Steven’s story started when he was 15 in 2003 and doctors discovered a tumor on his spine. Steven has since survived surgery and chemotherapy for Stage 4 Osteosarcoma and a bone marrow transplant for Secondary Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. He’s cancer free now, but the resulting chronic health problems have made it very difficult for him to continue on as a full-time student.

Thanks to the provision of the law allowing young adults to stay under their parent’s plans, Steven, 21 years old, has the peace of mind that he can still have health insurance through his father’s plan at work. The law allows for young adults to be covered under their parents’ insurance up to the age of 26. Since the law was enacted, Steven and 2.5 million other young adults have been able to get health insurance coverage through their parents’ plan.

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By the Numbers: 2.5 Million

Posted by Megan Slack on March 21, 2012 at 9:00 AM EDT

Under the Affordable Care Act, parents can now add or keep their children on their health insurance plans until they turn 26 years old. Since that part of President Obama’s health reform law went into effect in September 2010, more than 2.5 million young adults have gained coverage.

Before the passage of health reform, young adults were typically dropped from their parents’ coverage when they turned 18 or graduated from college, and often faced barriers to accessing and maintaining affordable health insurance. Nearly 76 percent of uninsured young adults avoided getting the care they needed because they couldn’t afford it.

In addition to helping them gain or keep insurance coverage through their parents’ plans, the Affordable Care Act is improving health care for many young adults in other ways. For example, insurance companies must now cover preventive services, like vaccinations and cancer screenings, at no additional cost. Insurance companies are banned from imposing a limit on the amount of care they’ll cover over a person’s life time, and are now required to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on care—not overhead.

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White House: Health Care Law Protects Students After Graduation

Posted by Kathleen Sebelius and Arne Duncan on March 20, 2012 at 6:16 PM EDT

Ed. note: This is cross-posted from Newsobserver

Graduation is just a few months away - and many of you will soon be making important decisions about jobs, graduate school, and your futures. Graduation day is always filled with promise, yet for you and your classmates, graduation day has also traditionally raised another worrisome question: where am I going to get health insurance?

The good news is that thanks to the new health care law, many young adults up to age 26 can now stay on their parent's plan. Since President Obama signed this landmark law two years ago this week, 2.5 million additional young adults have been able to get coverage under this invaluable benefit.

Before Congress enacted the health care law in 2010, most newly-minted college graduates left not only the classroom behind but their health insurance as well. That meant having to hopefully find a job that provided coverage - or buying coverage on their own, which can be unaffordable, especially for someone just out of college.

Those challenges meant that young adults were almost twice as likely to be uninsured as older Americans.

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