Healthcare Bill

How President Obama’s Healthcare Bill Helps Americans

President Obama's efforts to push for his healthcare bill led to the successful passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, more informally known as the healthcare bill. This healthcare bill drastically changes the way Americans use their health insurance coverage. The healthcare bill works to make healthcare more affordable and to give more options to Americans about the healthcare they receive.

Here are some of the benefits of the new healthcare bill:

• Coverage cannot be cancelled because of illness

o Insurance companies cannot deny coverage due to sickness or errors on an application.

o Approximately 10,700 people will keep their insurance because of this.

• Annual limit restrictions: Insurance companies will be more restricted in their ability to set annual limits on care.

o Up to 3,500 people to gain coverage from this.

• Increase Medicare drug coverage

o Rebate checks have been sent to compensate for the 'donut hole' in Medicare's prescription drug coverage, filling half the donut hole.

• No more lifetime limits

o Insurance companies cannot put a lifetime limit on the amount of coverage given.

o Up to 20,400 people benefit from this provision while nearly 102 million will no longer have a limit.

• Discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions

o Insurance companies cannot deny a child's coverage because of a pre-existing condition or illness.

o This will extend coverage to as many as 72,000 uninsured children as well as up to 90,000 children who will no longer be denied certain benefits.

• Parent's policies cover young adults

o A child can stay on a parent's plan until the age of 26.

o This will potentially cover up to 1.8 million otherwise uninsured young adults and include up to 600,000 who purchase coverage.

• Small Business Tax Credits

o Small businesses with less than 50 employees will be eligible for tax credits that cover up to half of employee premiums.

• Due to the healthcare bill purchased after September 23, 2010 cannot charge out of pocket charges for preventative services, must provide a chance to appeal coverage decisions to a third party, and must guarantee choice of primary care provider with the plan's network of doctors.

• There will also be a new insurance marketplace in 2014 that will have state-run health insurance exchanges, providing affordable coverage.

o Potentially saves $100 billion for the first ten years and over $1 trillion the next ten after.

The changes of the healthcare bill will be much more apparent as more of the provisions take effect. The healthcare bill will provide more thorough health care, improve care, and save money for Americans.