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
9-21-12 Affordable Care Act Update
October 3, 2012
Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Repeal Legislation Clears House Energy and Commerce Committee
On Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up and approved H.R. 1206, the Access to Professional Health Insurance Advisors Act of 2011. The legislation would remove the commissions of health insurance agents from the medical loss ratio (MLR), a calculation that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires insurers to show the proportion of premiums they spend on providing health care to patients as opposed to salaries and other administrative expenses. ACS CAN opposes H.R. 1206 because it would weaken the law's promise to improve the value of commercial health insurance. It is unclear at this time whether the bill will go to the House floor in the lame duck session. Read the ACS CAN statement and the consumer group letter ACS CAN signed to House Energy and Commerce Committee Members.
120919_sign_on_for_hr1206_markup_final.pdf
Health Insurance Assistance Service
The Society's Health Insurance Assistance Service (HIAS) recently reached the milestone of completing 50,000 cases. HIAS, a service operating out of Society's National Cancer Information Center, was created in 2005 to help cancer patients navigate the private health insurance system. More than 7,000 cancer patients, survivors and their advocates seek out HIAS each year. Callers with questions or problems regarding health insurance work with trained health insurance specialists who gather detailed information about the callers' needs and circumstances, diagnose the health insurance problem, and offer information about possible solutions. These stories also help ACS CAN put a face on the health care challenges confronting thousands of cancer patients.
Earlier this year, HIAS reported greater success in finding coverage for cancer patients since the creation of the Pre-Existing Condition Plan (PCIP) under the ACA. PCIP was designed to provide access to quality, affordable health care to people in every state with pre-existing conditions such as cancer who have gone uninsured for six months or more. In 27 states, a state or nonprofit entity administers PCIP, while Department of Health and Human Services operates the program in the remaining 23 states and the District of Columbia. HIAS is looking forward to the full implementation of the ACA in 2014 when the service will be able to help even more cancer patients find affordable, adequate health care coverage. Read a new Commonwealth Fund issue brief on lessons learned from PCIP and how to apply them to the Affordable Care Act.
HealthCareandYou.org Features ACS CAN
The Health Care & You coalition continues to add important content to its website designed to provide consumers with unbiased information about the ACA. The latest is a series of videos about different aspects of the law, featuring representatives of the coalition. A video (featuring yours truly) about provisions of the law that benefit people with pre-existing conditions is now available for viewing. Watch it here.
ACS CAN is a founding member of the Health Care & You coalition, which also includes AARP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, Catholic Health Association, and National Community Pharmacists Association. The groups' goal is to provide the public with straightforward, easy-to-understand information about the health care law.
Number of Uninsured Americans Declines
New census data show that for the first time since 2007, the number of Americans without health insurance is declining. According to the data, the number of uninsured fell by 1.3 million from 2010 to 2011. The decrease can be attributed in good part to the roughly 3 million young adults who have taken advantage the ACA provision allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26. At the same time, with poverty on the rise, the number of people covered through Medicaid increased. Read the Kaiser Health News story.
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.