posted September 23, 2010 07:49 PM         

1. Curbing Insurance Cancellations
2. Cover Kids with preexisting conditions
3. Allow young adults to stay on their parents plan to age 26
4. Remove Lifetime Limits
5. Phase out annual limits

For any insurance plan that goes into effect after September 23, 2010, your insurance company must:

• Pay for preventative care like mamagrams
• Better appeals process
• Let you choose your own doctor
• Easier access to OB-GYN Services
• Allow you to use the nearest emergency room without penalty

Many other new benefits of the law have already taken effect, including rebate checks for seniors in the donut hole and tax credits for small businesses.

posted September 24, 2010 11:20 AM         

i honestly wish we could swap your president for our prime minister...
it would be nice to have a smart man in power for a change

posted September 25, 2010 11:16 AM         

Have you noticed the steep raises in health insurance policy rates?

There's no free lunch.

If more services are mandated to be covered...the expected result...for those who can actually think...is that the cost of those services are going to be factored into the cost of doing business and prices will go up.

Only in the minds of those living in FantasyLand...the "something for nothing crowd"...were health insurance costs going down.

Nevertheless, Conservative Republicans and Conservative Democrats are not going to be able to repeal O'BomberCare for at least 2 more years....unless they gain so many seats in the new Congress they can override the veto of O'Bomber who lied through his teeth about O'BomberCare.

posted September 25, 2010 07:34 PM         

Have you read the rise by every quarter that the health care industry reports? Obviously not. Have you read the increases the Insurers have posted for the last 2 years? Obviously not.
And if the government had done the right thing we would have single payer. The party of no did everything in their power to water down this bill.

posted September 25, 2010 10:31 PM         

What will happen is that the Congress will zero parts of O'BomberCare's budgets...until there's enough adults in the Congress to repeal O'BomberCare outright as almost 60% of Americans want right now.

posted September 26, 2010 06:44 AM         

Health insurance costs and health care costs will fall like a rock out of the sky....when government gets the hell out of the way..and out of the business and competition between those in the business takes over and drives prices down.

posted September 26, 2010 12:04 PM         

quote:

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Health insurance costs and health care costs will fall like a rock out of the sky....when government gets the hell out of the way..and out of the business and competition between those in the business takes over and drives prices down.

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The government was more out of the way prior to this legislation, and costs were not falling anywhere, so it's hard to make the case that increased competition would cause costs to fall.

There is a possibility that deregulation could have some success in lowering costs, but cost savings usually come at the expense of service-cutting. A cheaper product is a sham when it doesn't carry the same value as the products it's in competition with. Americans would not be enamoured with the illusion of affordable care. What insurance company is going to sacrifice it's profits in order to get the sale? I know it seems like they would in order to increase their total market share, but we haven't seen evidence that insurance companies would go that way. I'm pretty certain the low-cost insurance leader would be a stripped down company like Southwest airlines: cutting the cost whilst also cutting the consumer experience.

quote:

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O'BomberCare and it's imbecilic provisions are going to cost consumers and taxpayers between 2.5 and 3 TRILLION dollars above what the normal rise in costs would be.

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posted September 26, 2010 01:02 PM         

Maybe people need to read the Mandated

Patients Bill of Rights

If you are privately-insured:


• YOUR HEALTH COVERAGE CANNOT BE ARBITRARILY CANCELLED IF YOU BECOME SICK

  Under the new law, health plans are now prohibited from rescinding coverage except in cases involving fraud or an intentional misrepresentation of facts. Due to pressure from Democrats in Congress and the Obama Administration, insurers agreed to begin implementing this protection early, this spring; so rescissions are now a thing of the past. This protection applies to all health plans.

• YOUR CHILD CANNOT BE DENIED COVERAGE DUE TO A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION

  
  The new law prohibits insurance plans both from denying coverage and limiting benefits for children based on a pre-existing condition. This protection applies to all health plans, except “grandfathered” plans in the individual market. These protections will be extended to Americans of all ages starting in 2014.

• YOUR CHILD UP TO AGE 26 CAN STAY ON YOUR HEALTH PLAN

  Under the new law, insurance companies are required to allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance plan, at the parent’s choice. This provision applies to all health plans. (For employer plans, only those young people not eligible for their own employer coverage receive the benefit, until 2014.)

• YOUR HEALTH PLAN CANNOT PUT A LIFETIME LIMIT ON YOUR HEALTH COVERAGE

  Millions of Americans who suffer from costly medical conditions are in danger of having their health insurance coverage vanish when the costs of their treatment hit lifetime limits. These limits can cause the loss of coverage at the very moment when patients need it most. Over 100 million Americans have coverage that imposes such lifetime limits. The new law prohibits the use of lifetime limits in all health plans.

• YOUR HEALTH PLAN’S ANNUAL LIMITS ARE PHASED OUT OVER THREE YEARS

  Even more aggressive than lifetime limits are annual dollar limits on what an insurance company will pay for health care. Annual limits are less common than lifetime limits – but 19% of individual market plans and 14% of small employer plans currently use them.

  The new law phases out the use of annual limits over the next three years. For plan years beginning on September 23, 2010, the minimum level for the annual limit will be set at $750,000. This minimum is raised to $1.25 million in a year and $2 million in two years. In 2014, all annual limits are prohibited. The protection applies to all plans, except “grandfathered” plans in the individual market.

  If you are purchasing a new plan, you will have the following additional protections:
  YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KEY PREVENTIVE SERVICES WITHOUT DEDUCTIBLE OR CO-PAYMENTS

  Today, too many Americans do not get the high-quality preventive care they need to stay healthy, avoid or delay the onset of disease, and lead productive lives. Nationally, Americans use preventive services at about half the recommended rate.

  Under the new law, insurance companies must cover recommended preventive services, including mammograms, colonoscopies, immunizations, and pre-natal and new baby care, without charging deductibles, co-payments or co-insurance.

• YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BOTH AN INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL APPEAL

  Today, if your health plan tells you it won’t cover a treatment your doctor recommends, or it refuses to pay the bill for your child’s last trip to the emergency room, you may not know where to turn. Most plans have a process that lets you appeal the decision within the plan through an “internal appeal” – but there’s no guarantee that the process will be swift and objective. Moreover, if you lose your internal appeal, you may not be able to ask for an “external appeal” to an independent reviewer.

  The new law guarantees the right to an “internal appeal.” Also, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying coverage for needed care without a chance to appeal to an independent third party.

• YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE YOUR OWN DOCTOR

  Being able to choose and keep your doctor is highly valued by Americans. Yet, insurance companies don’t always make it easy to see the provider you choose. One survey found that three-fourths of the OB-GYNs reported that patients needed to return to their primary care physicians for permission to get follow-up care.

  The new law: 1) guarantees you get to choose your primary care doctor; 2) allows you to choose a pediatrician as your child’s primary care doctor; and 3) gives women the right to see an OB-GYN without having to obtain a referral first.

• YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO ACCESS TO OUT-OF-NETWORK EMERGENCY ROOM CARE AT IN-NETWORK COST-SHARING RATES

  Many insurers charge unreasonably high cost-sharing for emergency care by an out-of-network provider. This can mean financial hardship if you get sick or injured when you are away from home.

  The new law makes emergency services more accessible to consumers. Health plans will not be able to charge higher cost-sharing for emergency services that are obtained out of a plan’s network.

Congressional Republicans promise to take away guaranteed protections for millions of patients and put insurance companies back in charge of their health care decisions. With help from the Blue Dog Dems of course.

posted September 27, 2010 09:15 AM         

Is it possible you don't know there's little to no competition between insurance companies state to state, coast to coast?

Is it possible your ignorance is so gross as to not know that in most states there's a virtual monopoly in health insurance with some states having 2 or 3 companies allowed to sell policies in that state and a very short list in other states?

Is it possible you are so ignorant that you don't know the selling of health insurance policies is forbidden across state lines across the United States?

Using Senator's and House Member's own estimates of the cost of a health insurance policy in the United States....$9.000 per policy per year.....

50,000,000 uninsured X $9,000 per policy = $450,000,000,000, $450 BILLION, per year X 10 years = $4.5 TRILLION DOLLARS.

Oh wait, I forgot you are O'Bomber Kool-Aid drinkers. You think 50,000,000 uninsured people can be insured and....no one, not the insured, not the government, not taxpayers... is going to have to pay a cent for that insurance....and....the overall cost curve for health insurance is going to actually...GO DOWN....indeed a better result than FREE!

posted September 27, 2010 10:08 AM         

I am aware of McCain's interstate plans. You're foolish if you think you can school me in the relevant issues in the healthcare debate.

I don't know why you'd think that any liberal doesn't believe the new coverage will be paid for. That's a plain silly notion. Everyone must have health insurance means everyone must secure health insurance. How do you do that? You buy it.

posted September 28, 2010 05:56 PM         

JW maybe you can apply for a grant to remove your Homer Simpson gene...

posted September 28, 2010 08:30 PM         

on the other hand, the amount of demonizing of obama and all regulation that goes into the tactics of the corporate stooges (and plenty of them are democrats) is really ugly to me. we don't need any more hate and division, that is exactly what they want.

instead of being willing to see that, yes, healthcare has to be paid for somehow and the rich stand as much to gain by putting into the pot as the poor do, they are basically just trying to crucify obama and his administration in order to REGAIN POWER. because they are scared sh*tless that if they don't have ALL the power they will be as good as naked/dead in the water.

and it's really pretty funny that while they complain that many think obama is the "messiah" they are acting as if they do by said crucifixion attempts.

and not one of these people seem to notice that the tea baggers are being bankrolled by the very richest among us and when they have been soaked, stewed, and squeezed dry they will be where all other tea bags end up - in the trash bin, with a bought and paid for stooge in office removing all the limits again so they can continue to outsource our jobs and products.

it is obama who is trying to bring the jobs back home but in order to spite him and stagnate the economy for decades into t he future, they will do their best to kill this too...

posted September 29, 2010 10:13 AM         

on the whole, yes, regulations are seen as answers to problems that have consistently got in the way of people getting along. many of them are not really necessary though,

posted September 29, 2010 01:10 PM         

The just say no to sex or it's modernized abstinence only.

It is bad enough when the states have antiquated laws on the books about these things....but to create new ones or add to them, are indicative to Pluto and the NN in early Capricorn.

The US has always had a problem with sex, open free and easy sex is verboten, and the buried stuff rises to the surface in a pustulous way [I will use any occasion to use that word!] because we do not treat our problems in a healthy way. It nearly always comes out in the end.

It is all about sex, most everything is when you get right down to it.

Corporate regulation is torn down for decades, while societal regulation and fear
of our collective gayness, or gender identification issues are shored up and added to. Not to mention fidelity, hetero marriage and our attempts to redefine the roles they play in our lives. Fear is the thing....fear of our gay friends, neighbors, and relatives is an invitation for people to discover what these really mean to them, for the noisiest that seems to mean fear.

But all of those are for another thread[s]?

AG there are occasionally repeated use of the M word as regards to you, why is that? What went down in the past that the Misogyny rock gets lobbed in your direction?

posted September 29, 2010 01:19 PM         

quote:

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and not one of these people seem to notice that the tea baggers are being bankrolled by the very richest among us and when they have been soaked, stewed, and squeezed dry they will be where all other tea bags end up - in the trash bin, with a bought and paid for stooge in office removing all the limits again so they can continue to outsource our jobs and products.

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I have a pretty sick sense of humor, so I think it is hilarious that the origins of the Boston Tea party were ostensibly against a corporation or big buisness that the East India Company was given a monopoly on the importation of tea to America....2) also that the sexual urban dictionary defines a tea bagger quite differently.

posted September 29, 2010 01:21 PM         

i'm guessing we are spared that particular label because we are female, though i know a few female misogynists myself! AG is the last person i would call misogynist though...another misnomer deliberately used to discredit the opposition.

some people also seem not to be aware that complete lack of regulation = ANARCHY. and insisting on a completely free market is therefore insisting on anarchy.