What the Affordable Care Act Means For You

The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as the ACA, was signed into law by President Obama in 2010 and has since began to be implemented throughout the country. This law is a significant change to many health care systems and it is important to know what exactly it means for you.

1. The ACA aims to expand coverage

The ACA promises to expand coverage to children under the age of 19 with preexisting conditions. Before the law was enacted, insurance companies were able to deny young people with serious ailments for coverage. In addition to this, the law expands coverage to many young people under the age of 26, allowing them to remain eligible on their parents’ plans.

2. The ACA aims to cut healthcare costs

With the enactment of the ACA, health insurance companies are no longer allowed to put lifetime limits on insurance plans. This means that someone who has had to use their health insurance frequently and has had to have expensive services provided to them cannot be penalized and forced to pay out of pocket after a certain amount.

In addition to this, health insurance companies must have their premium increases reviewed before actually implementing them. This is meant to limit arbitrary health insurance rate hikes.

3. The ACA aims to increase the quality of care to patients

The ACA ensures that all patients will have access to preventative care.

For most people this preventative care covers most immunizations, blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, HIV screening, mammograms for women, developmental screening for children, and more.

New healthcare plans created after the implementation of the ACA will allow people to choose their own doctors within their specific health care network as well as allow them Emergency Room access to hospitals outside of their healthcare network.

Jaime Venditti, State Coordinator, New York Health Works

Resources:

http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/

http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/factsheets/2010/07/preventive-services-list.html#CoveredPreventiveServicesforAdults