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On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed comprehensive health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into law. For those who missed the Health Insurance Reform Forum on Sunday, April 18th, Kirsten Sinema suggested these sites for information. In addition, the Fact Check link is at the end to clarify lies that are still circulating about the legislation.
The first two are government websites; the third site is the Kaiser Family Foundation's.
Key Provisions That Take Effect Immediately
1. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDITS—Offers tax credits to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable. Tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums will be available to firms that choose to offer coverage. Effective beginning calendar year 2010. (Beginning in 2014, the small business tax credits will cover 50 percent of premiums.)
2. NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHILDREN WITH PRE‐EXISTING CONDITIONS—Prohibits new health plans in all markets plus grandfathered group health plans from denying coverage to children with pre‐existing conditions. Effective 6 months after enactment. (Beginning in 2014, this prohibition would apply to all persons.)
3. HELP FOR UNINSURED AMERICANS WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS UNTIL EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE (INTERIM HIGH‐RISK POOL)—Provides access to affordable insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre‐existing condition through a temporary subsidized high‐risk pool. Effective in 2010.
4. ENDS RESCISSIONS—Bans insurance companies from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Effective 6 months after enactment.
The site has 14 additional Provisions that take effect immediately:
http://healthreform.gov/reports/keyprovisions.html
This website shows the impact of Health Reform in Arizona:
http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/statehealthreform/arizona.html
The Kaiser Family Foundation posted a summary of the new law, and changes made to the law by subsequent legislation, focuses on provisions to expand coverage, control health care costs, and improve health care delivery system.
http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8061.pdf
FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. FactCheck writes, "The legislative debate is over, but the false and exaggerated claims just keep on coming.
We’ve seldom seen a piece of legislation so widely misrepresented, and misunderstood, as the new health care law. We stopped counting the number of articles and items we turned out on the subject after the total reached 100."
http://www.factcheck.org/2010/04/more-malarkey-about-health-care
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