Potential benefits of “Affordable Health Care for America” Act

It’s bound to change as any bill does when there are differing priorities in the U.S. House and Senate, but there are some very interesting changes coming down the pike which almost everybody who doesn’t work for a big insurance company is likely to appreciate.

The “temporary insurance” program created immediately to fill in the gap until the Exchange is available provides coverage for individuals who have been uninsured for several months or have been denied a policy because of pre-existing conditions. If you don’t know somebody who has no insurance, count yourself lucky, because the number of Americans currently uninsured has passed 50 million.

The House bill also prohibits insurers from nullifying or rescinding a patient’s policy when they file a claim for benefits (except in the case of fraud) which is how a lot of those currently uninsured ended up that way – often after paying premiums for years, if not decades.

There’s a lot of confusion, though, about details affecting what a long-term public option might cost. Here’s one clear way the bill protects the bottom line: The AHCA Act as it passed the House stipulates a long-term care insurance program to be financed by voluntary payroll deductions to provide benefits to adults who become functionally disabled. At the same time, the bill enhances the review and disclosure of insurance rate increases which creep in and amount to excessive cost increases by insurance companies that have more to do with their profit margins than with actual health care costs.

The House also helps MEDICARE subscribers in a variety of ways. The bill included provisions to close the so-called Part D “DONUT HOLE,” reducing it by $500 while instituting a 50% discount on brand-name drugs, effective January 1, 2010, while prohibiting Medicare Advantage plans from the disgraceful tactic of charging higher cost-sharing for services in their private plan than what is charged in traditional Medicare. The elimination of co-payments for preventive services and proposed changes to exempt preventive services from deductibles under Medicare further strengthens this vital system – which incidentally is the existing government-administered public option used by 151 of our elected officials in Congress (including 55 in the GOP who, for reasons they don’t explain, seem dead set against anybody else having a similar public option.)

Once you add in the elimination of lifetime caps on coverage and the improvements to COBRA provisions that will bridge the time until the Exchange is up and running, there’s a lot to like about the bill that passed the House. With the President committed to a plan that won’t increase the deficit, which exploded paying for the wars in the Middle East, the prospects for reducing long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government while protecting families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs and our economy as a whole are improving.

“Whether or not you have health insurance right now, the reforms we seek will bring stability and security that you don’t have today.

This isn’t about politics. This is about people’s lives. This is about people’s businesses. This is about our future. ”

U.S. President Barack H. Obama