Update
Our new national health care law is called the Affordable Care Act. It imposes new requirements on all health plans beginning September 23, 2010.
Reforms that apply to all individual plans include:
- No lifetime limits on coverage
- No coverage cancellations for unintended mistakes on applications
- Extending parents' coverage to children under age 26
However, some new requirements don't apply to certain insurance plans that existed before March 23, 2010. Plans that don’t significantly cut benefits or raise charges can maintain a "grandfathered" status.
Some requirements that don't apply to grandfathered plans include:
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Free preventive care. Grandfathered plans can still charge co-payments and deductibles for preventive care like check-ups, vaccinations and mammograms. New health plans must completely cover recommended preventive services
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Increased yearly coverage limits. Grandfathered individual plans can continue their annual dollar limits on benefits. New plans must phase in an increasing amount of annual coverage
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Coverage for sick kids. Grandfathered individual plans may deny coverage to children with pre-existing medical conditions. New plans can’t limit or deny benefits to a child under age 19 simply because the child had a health problem before applying to join the plan
To read more about the Affordable Care Act visit HealthCare.gov.
Update
Health insurance rates may rise next year due to the new health reform law. One insurance consultant predicted a 13 to 15 percent rise in the rates for employee coverage at mid-size companies.
The law requires several changes in insurance coverage, and insurers might charge for those added benefits. Immediate changes required by the law include coverage for adult children until age 26, coverage for children with pre-existing conditions, and the elimination of maximum lifetime spending limits.
Original Article
Like it or not, President Obama signed the controversial Health Care Bill into law on March 23, 2010. The law paves the way for a massive overhaul of health care in the US. But not all at once.
Goals and Time Table
The main goal of the new law is to give 32 million uninsured Americans the opportunity to get affordable health care insurance. Parts of the law go into effect immediately, while others won't go into effect fully until 2014 or even later.
The current version of the law is over 2,000 pages long, so we can't explain every detail. Also, some things may change as the US Senate discusses improvements or "fixes" contained in the "reconciliation bill." Nonetheless, here's a timetable for some of the "major" parts of the new law: