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While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated
News
1-19-12 Affordable Care Act Update
January 20, 2012
Litigation Update
One week ago, the American Cancer Society and ACS CAN filed a joint amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court along with the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association in the litigation challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The brief received favorable mention in several news articles, some of which recounted its central argument that Congress had the authority to enact the individual mandate -- which requires almost all individuals to purchase or carry health insurance by 2014 -- to ensure the success of patient protection provisions such as the ban on pre-existing condition exclusions and annual dollar limits on coverage. Numerous other groups also filed in support of the provision last week, including AARP, the American Nurses Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for late March, with a decision expected before the court adjourns for the summer. Read the joint media statement, which links to a copy of the brief and coverage from CQ.
State Update
Many states are busy trying to pass legislation to create health benefit exchanges during their newly opened 2012 legislative sessions. Approximately 20 states that have almost no foundation to build on from the 2011 session will be trying to pass legislation this year. At least 10 additional states will be working to build on executive orders or legislation that passed in 2011 that fell short of actually establishing an exchange. In addition, the 11 states (CA, CO, CT, HI, IL, MD, NV, OR, WA, WV, VT, plus Washington DC) that passed exchange legislation in 2011 have outstanding issues to resolve during this legislative session in order to finish the process. The remaining states either do not have a legislative session scheduled in 2012, or officials have stated there will be no attempt to pass legislation to establish an exchange. States that do not pass legislation will automatically have a federal exchange operate in their state.
Health Spending Down in 2010
The recession slowed the growth of health spending in 2010, resulting in a national increase of 3.9 percent, the government announced in a recent Health Affairs article. For the second year in a row, the effects of the recession caused Americans to put off filling prescriptions and scheduling doctor visits. Additionally, Medicare spending only rose five percent in 2010, the smallest increase in more than 10 years. Federal health spending increased by 40 percent between 2007 and 2010, mostly due to a spike in Medicaid enrollment. For more information, read the New York Times coverage of the report.
New Study: More Young Adults Have Health Insurance Thanks to ACA
A new study of census data by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) reports that the number of young adults aged 19 to 26 has gone up from 24.7 percent in 2009 to nearly 28 percent in 2010. EBRI attributes the increase to the provision in the Affordable Care Act allowing young adults to obtain coverage up to age 26 through a parent's employer-based health plan.
Training
ACS CAN conducted the third in a series of training sessions for Division advocacy staff focused on the Affordable Care Act in Denver on January 10-11. The training focused mainly on the work states must do to develop state health exchanges including designing campaigns to further those efforts. Similar sessions were held in Washington, DC in November and Indianapolis in December, providing opportunities for every Division to participate. Additional training opportunities are forthcoming.
As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families.
Chris Hansen | President
ACS Cancer Action Network | American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc.