HealthCare.gov states, 1.8 million Americans have signed up for health insurance since the special enrollment period opportunity became available on February 15, 2021, through July 31, 2021; 404,000 consumers signed up for health insurance in the month of July alone. The ACA is here to stay.
Special Enrollment Period for uninsured
or for those who may change their coverage
through the ACA: February 15, 2021 – August 15, 2021
2.15.2021 – The Biden Administration took a crucial step by opening a special health care enrollment period to ensure everyone has access to health care that meets their needs during the pandemic. Reopening the health care exchange is an important first step in responding to the pandemic.
For now, please visit healthcare.gov before August 15th to get the coverage you and your family need. If you’re already covered, then please talk to your family and friends to make sure they’ve heard about the special enrollment period and have the coverage they need, too.
************************
Biden Moves to Open Health Insurance Marketplace, Counter Trump on Abortion
The new president is departing from his predecessor by
reopening HealthCare.gov due to COVID-19 and taking aim
at abortion-related funding restrictions.
U.S. News & World Report | Chelsea Cirruzzo
1.28.2021 – President Joe Biden signed an executive order Thursday to open a special enrollment period for the federal health insurance marketplace, offering millions of uninsured people a clear pathway to get coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move comes after former President Donald Trump declined to open a special enrollment period for the marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act, resisting calls by lawmakers and insurers to do so due to the pandemic. Biden on Thursday also acted to rescind a rule barring international nonprofits that perform or promote abortion from receiving funding from the U.S – a policy reinstated by Trump and one typically put in place by presidents along party lines.
To read more, please visit here.
Supreme Court rejects GOP challenge to ACA
Bloomberg | Greg Stohr
6.17.2021 – The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the latest Republican attack on the Affordable Care Act, preserving a landmark law that provides health insurance to 20 million people.
The 7-2 ruling marks the third time the Supreme Court, despite its increasingly conservative makeup, has backed central parts of Obamacare, as the law is also known. The GOP has been trying to wipe out the measure since it was enacted in 2010 under Democratic President Barack Obama.
To read more, visit here.
Supreme Court Signals Obamacare Will Stand
In hearing oral arguments, two conservative justices
indicated they were unlikely to scrap
the entire Affordable Care Act.
U.S. News & World Report | Lisa Hagan
11.10.2020 – With a new 6-3 conservative majority, the Supreme Court on Tuesday considered the fate of the Affordable Care Act for the third time since the health care law was enacted in 2010. But two conservative justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, indicated that they were unlikely to scrap the entire law even if the individual mandate is deemed unconstitutional.
To read more, visit here.
Health Reform providing security to working families
- Working families are protected from losing their health care or being forced into bankruptcy when a family member gets sick or is in an accident. Families have the security of knowing their health insurance will be there when they need it most.
- Insurance companies are now required to justify rate hikes, and consumers have the ability to appeal to an independent third party when insurance companies refuse to cover services or care.
- Starting in 2014, all Americans will have access to affordable health insurance no matter their circumstances — whether they change jobs, lose their job, decide to start a business, or retire early. Purchasing private insurance in the new state-based health insurance exchanges could save middle-class families who can’t get employer-provided insurance thousands of dollars.
- Once fully implemented, the law will slow health care premium growth rates, adding another $2,000 to family savings by 2019.
- The Affordable Care Act is expected to reduce the deficit by $127 billion from 2012 to 2021.
Women and Health Reform
20.4 million women with private insurance now can soon get free preventive care. That means they can get life-saving cancer screenings like mammograms and can have their contraception covered without paying a co-pay or deductible. Women are living healthier lives while saving money at the same time. The Affordable Care Act will also prevent insurance companies from discriminating against women so that being a woman is no longer considered a pre-existing condition.
Young People and Health Reform
Young adults are now eligible to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans as they enter the workforce, until they turn 26. Since the health care law passed, 2.5 million young adults — traditionally the group least likely to be insured — gained insurance because of The Affordable Care Act.
Small Business and Health Reform
Under The Affordable Care Act, help for small businesses — including the new insurance exchanges — will reduce small business health care spending by nearly 9 percent, according to independent estimates. Millions of small businesses are now eligible for a tax credit to help pay for their health care premiums. The credit will increase to cover 50 percent of premium costs in 2014.
Ending discrimination for pre-existing conditions
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) provides insurance to people of all ages with health conditions who have been uninsured for six months, helping those with cancer or other serious conditions to get the treatment they need. Before The Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could deny coverage to children with medical conditions. Thanks to The Affordable Care Act, as many as 17 million children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance.
Ending lifetime limits
Before The Affordable Care Act, more than half of all private insurance plans included a lifetime limit on coverage — and nearly 20,000 people hit a lifetime cap each year. The Affordable Care Act banned these caps, and those who had already hit a lifetime limit will be eligible for unlimited coverage.
Strengthening Medicare
More than 47 million Medicare beneficiaries now have access to free health services — including an annual wellness visit, mammograms, and other health screenings — to help detect and treat medical conditions early. Thanks to The Affordable Care Act, nearly 3.6 million seniors who fell into the Medicare “doughnut hole” during 2011 saved an average of $604 on prescription drugs. In 2011, The Affordable Care Act saved women who fell into the ‘doughnut hole’ on Medicare more than $1.2 billion on the cost of prescription drugs.
Top 10 benefits received from
The Affordable Care Act
- Before health reform, insurance companies used a practice called ‘gender rating’ which means women could be charged more than men for the exact same insurance policy. By 2014, The Affordable Care Act will end ‘gender rating’.
- Insurance companies now cover all FDA approved contraception without extra co-pays.
- Insurance companies now cover mammograms and pap smears without extra co-pays. In the future, well-woman visits and domestic violence screenings will be included.
- Insurance companies now cover maternity care.
- Insurance companies now cover breastfeeding equipment and support.
- Children with pre-existing conditions are now protected. Soon insurance companies will not be able to deny women coverage for ‘pre-existing conditions’ such as pregnancy, having had a C-section or being a survivor of domestic violence.
- Insurance exchanges will help consumers compare insurance policies. Women make 80% of the health care decisions in the United States.
- New tax credits are now available to help small businesses provide coverage to all their employees. Women are more likely than men to work for small businesses that don’t offer health insurance.
- Young adults now benefit from a new rule that allows young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance policy as a dependent until age 26. Young women under the age of 26 are more likely to be uninsured than women in any other age group.
- Seniors now benefit from a provision that is starting to close the Medicare Part D ‘doughnut hole’ gap which requires Seniors to spend a considerable amount out-of-pocket for prescription drugs. The ‘doughnut hole’ gap will be completely closed by 2020.