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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
12-2-10 Affordable Care Act Update
December 6, 2010
Below is this week’s update on the Affordable Care Act. As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families
Now Available In Print: New Patient-Focused Guide to the Affordable Care Act
A few weeks ago I informed you about a new consumer-friendly guide, posted on cancer.org and fightcancer.org, that describes how provisions of the Affordable Care Act help people with cancer and their families. Now the guide is also available through Ariba from the Society’s Nationwide Distribution Center. ACS CAN worked with Corporate Communications and Health Promotions staff at the National Home Office on the guide, which explains the Affordable Care Act through the “cancer lens” and features stories of real people who have battled cancer or helped loved ones fight the disease.
The guide, which also discusses provisions of the law as they apply to the Society’s original “4 A’s” that define meaningful health coverage – adequacy, affordability, availability, and administrative simplicity – marks a significant step forward in our efforts to educate the public about the law and its benefits for cancer patients, survivors, and their families. You will soon receive a Field Notice with instructions for how to order the printed copies. Please share the booklets and the electronic version with staff, volunteers, and others who have an interest in learning more about the Affordable Care Act.
Medical Loss Ratios (MLR)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released an interim final rule on November 22 detailing how health insurers should calculate and define their plans’ medical loss ratio (MLR), the percentage of premiums spent on benefits versus administrative costs, under the Affordable Care Act. Beginning in 2011, the new law requires individual and small-group plans to have an MLR of at least 80 percent, and large-group plans to have an MLR of at least 85 percent. ACS CAN urged that the regulation carefully define MLR to ensure that as much spending as possible by insurers goes to services intended to improve patient health rather than to company profits and administrative expenses.
Read the ACS CAN press statement, HHS press release, and “New Health Rules Could Mean Insurance Rebates for Consumers” from NPR.
ACS CAN Senior Director and Volunteer Testify About “Mini-Med” Policies
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing Wednesday on limited-benefit health plans, also known as “mini-med” policies. Steve Finan, ACS CAN’s senior director of policy, and ACS CAN volunteer Eugene Melville of Riverside, California testified before the committee, along with four other witnesses, including an executive from the McDonald’s Corporation, which offers its hourly workers mini-med health plans.
Mr. Melville called the Society’s Health Information Assistance Service (HIAS) after he was diagnosed with oral cancer. He eventually learned that his health insurance policy had an annual benefit limit of $2,000 for doctor’s visits and out-patient treatments, and a $20,000 annual limit on hospitalizations that includes limits on coverage for services such as lab tests, surgical supplies and medications to $2,000 annually. Mr. Melville put a human face on this important issue, and provided the committee members with a clear example of how mini-med health insurance policies are impacting individuals who have serious diseases like cancer.
Steve’s testimony included examples of how cancer patients and survivors with inadequate insurance face barriers and financial burdens in getting the quality heath care they need to fight their disease. Steve also presented data from an ACS CAN nationwide poll that concluded that more than a third of cancer patients and survivors under age 65 reported problems with insurance coverage of cancer treatment such as the plan not paying for care or less than expected, reaching the limit of what the plan would pay, or delaying treatment because of insurance issues. Read the New York Times Article: “Opponents Take Aim at Limited Health Plans” and the ACS CAN press statement, which includes a link to Steve’s testimony.
Virginia Judge Rejects Challenge to the Affordable Care Act
On Tuesday, Federal Judge Norman Moon of the Western District Court of Virginia became the second judge to uphold the constitutionality of the new health care law. Judge Moon granted the federal government’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Liberty University, ruling that the requirement that most Americans obtain medical coverage falls within Congress’s authority to regulate interstate commerce.
Two other federal court judges, Henry Hudson in the Eastern District of Virginia and Roger Vinson in the Northern District of Florida, are expected to rule in similar cases in the next few weeks and months. Both judges have expressed skepticism regarding the law’s constitutionality. If Judge Hudson rules against the government in the Virginia case, that case and the other Virginia case decided by Judge Moon in favor of the government yesterday, will be consolidated in an appeal to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ultimately, all of the cases that make it through the appellate courts will be further consolidated and heard by the Supreme Court..
New Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Affordable Care Act
Public opinion remains divided, although a McClatchy-Marist poll released last week shows that a majority (51 percent) of Americans are in favor of maintaining the Affordable Care Act or actually expanding it. The post-election poll also broke down public support of individual provisions of the law. Voters support the requirement to provide coverage to those with pre-existing conditions (59 percent), the provision to allow young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26 (68 percent) and closing of Medicare “donut hole” (57 percent). The law’s requirement that individuals buy insurance or face penalties continues to be unpopular, with 65 percent of respondents considering it unconstitutional.
Click here to read more about the poll results.
Christopher W. Hansen
President
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)