September 23, 2010: President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law six months ago today, on March 23, 2010. On this anniversary, a number of insurance regulation reforms mandated by the ACA go into effect.
Among the new rules are the following:
- Dependent coverage eligibility for young adults is extended up to age 26.
- Lifetime dollar limits on coverage are eliminated.
- Annual limits are beginning to be phased out (with complete elimination in 2014).
- Insurers can no longer rescind coverage unless they can prove fraud by the insured.
- Children cannot be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
- Cost-sharing for preventive services is eliminated.
Though many of the provisions that become effective today deal with individual health coverage issues, they will vary depending on how states choose to implement them. SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett and SHADAC Senior Economist Sharon Long wrote yesterday’s Health Affairs Blog, pointing out that states currently have unique opportunities to learn from one another and that there is a critical need for data that allows people to evaluate the interaction between reform efforts and state-specific variables.
Dr. Blewett and Dr. Long emphasize that using state-level health data to bridge the gap between data and the policy-making process is more important now than ever before. You can help support this effort by informing us of the types of early data comparisons you’d like to see. In turn, SHADAC commits to be visible and vocal in providing bellwether data that informs state efforts and highlights the state of reform, straight from the states. Click here to contact SHADAC.
Visit www.healthcare.gov for further details about the ACA provisions that take effect today.