As of September 23, several new provisions of the health care reform law took effect, changing private insurance medical coverage for a vast number of people.
Now is the time to reach out to your patients and leverage this provision
Anyone seeking preventative care procedures may not have to spend money on a co-pay or other out-of-pocket expenses when seeking a preventative care procedures and programs such as colonoscopies. Many other procedures are included such as mammograms and flu shots.
The provisions aim to help those with pre-existing medical conditions, parents who want to keep grown children under their health plans, and patients who have reached annual and lifetime limits on coverage.
They also won’t have to pay extra if treated at an emergency room that is out of their insurance network.
And health insurance carriers can no longer retroactively cancel insurance if a person mistakenly omitted a past medical condition when acquiring coverage.
These provisions took effect on September 23rd, six months to the day after President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act. A provision intended to close the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole” took effect this summer, and many more changes to the public and private health care systems will be phased in by 2014.
However, for many patients, the provisions will become a reality only if their health insurance changes. So a free colonoscopy may not be in their immediate future.
If an employer’s health insurance plan existed before March 23, when the bill became law, and the company makes no changes to coverage, then that grandfathered plan must implement only a few of the new provisions.
But health experts think that many people will gain from most or all the provisions. Businesses change health care plans almost every year, with the next big annual deadline coming October 1.
For more information visit
www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/overview.html
