Empowering patient voices through voter registration
While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated
News
2-2-12 Affordable Care Act Update
February 17, 2012
Federal Update
Essential Health Benefits
On Tuesday, ACS CAN filed comments with the Department of Health and Human Services on the Essential Health Benefits Bulletin - the first communication from the administration laying out guidelines for determining a minimum standard of benefits in each state. The comments acknowledge the underlying effort to provide flexibility to states, but encourage the administration to strengthen the guidelines in a number of ways including, providing a uniform definition of coverage that:
- Addresses a continuum of care, regardless of geographic location
- Prohibits efforts by insurers to subtly discriminate against certain medical conditions through benefit manipulation like service or dollar amount limits; and,
- Require transparency for consumers and consumer advocates, including access to timely and easy-to-understand plan information.
Though significant, the bulletin, which was advisory and has no force of law, leaves many critical issues from a cancer patient's perspective unaddressed. ACS CAN's comments only address the issues raised in the bulletin and is waiting for HHS to issue a formal regulatory proposal before commenting further. Read the ACS CAN press release.
New Training Opportunity
On Wednesday, February 8 at 2:00 pm ET, ACS CAN will host a webinar on the Affordable Care Act-created Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). PCIP is a high risk pool for people with pre-existing conditions who are currently unable to obtain or afford health insurance. The program is temporary and unable to serve all in need, but it does serve as an important first step to unlocking the health care system for people with pre-existing conditions.
Representatives from HHS will lead the seminar, explaining how the program works and what organizations like the Society and ACS CAN can do to ensure that eligible patients are aware of it. For more information, please contact Katie Riley at [email protected].
Education and Information
As new guidance and regulations are released around the Affordable Care Act, polling continues to show Americans don't understand the basics of the law. Now is an opportune time to help to ensure that staff, volunteers, and the public at large have accurate information about the critical patient protection provisions and what they mean for them. Please remember to mention HealthCareandYou.org and the Society's consumer-friendly booklet about how key provisions in the law are helping people with cancer and their families in your outreach efforts. The guide is available online and in print through Ariba:
Item/Catalogue Number: 5600.00
Description: The Affordable Care Act: How It Helps People With Cancer and Their Families
Price: $0.082
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.