Today marks the six-month anniversary of the passage of
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is also the date that
some of the new law’s insurance reforms go into effect to help make insurance
work better for families and children. Those improvements include:
- Prohibiting most insurers from limiting benefits or
denying coverage for children who have a pre-existing condition (such as
asthma, diabetes, or autism). - Requiring plans offering dependent coverage to allow
young adults up to age 26 to enroll in their parents’ plans. - Providing well-child visits and other preventive
screenings with no cost sharing to children (and preventive services to adults)
signing up for new plans. - Eliminating dollar caps on benefits that an individual or
family can receive through their health plan over a lifetime and, ultimately,
annually. - Establishing a set of consumer reforms to make it easier
for families to use their health coverage.
These improvements are estimated to help millions of
individuals. They serve as a
precursor to the broader set of reforms that will go into effect in 2014
helping to open new coverage pathways to 32 million individuals. You can read more about these reforms
in CCF’s latest report and we’ll continue to keep you informed on ACA
implementation on Say Ahhh!