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News
9-23-10 Affordable Care Act Update
September 24, 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.
Please note: Due to the ACS CAN Leadership Summit and Lobby Day taking place next week, there will be no Affordable Care Act Update next week (Thursday, September 30).
Key Provisions in the Affordable Care Act Take Effect Today
Today marks six months since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, and several provisions take effect that will meaningfully improve the health care system for people with cancer and their families. The provisions help to ensure that people with cancer get access to the care they need, when they need it, by:
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- Prohibiting insurance companies from placing lifetime dollar limits on coverage , so people with cancer are not forced to pay the often high costs of their care out-of-pocket.
- Tightly restricting annual coverage limits , which will be phased out completely by 2014.
- Guaranteeing coverage in new plans of proven preventive services such as mammograms, Pap tests and colonoscopies, and ensuring that these services are free to patients.
- Barring insurance companies from denying coverage to children up to age 19 with pre-existing conditions such as cancer.
- Enabling dependent children to remain on their parent’s insurance policy up to age 26, thereby helping to expand access to coverage to an age group that often goes without it.
- Banning health plans from abruptly dropping people from coverage when they become sick with an illness such as cancer.
In addition, several key provisions have already gone into effect since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March that are providing seniors, children and the uninsured better access to quality, affordable health care.
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- Seniors who reach the coverage gap, or “doughnut hole,” in Medicare’s prescription drug program received a $250 rebate in the spring. The coverage gap will be closed completely by 2020, which is good news for seniors with cancer, whose prescription drug costs are often high enough to expose them to the costly doughnut hole.
- On July 1, a new high-risk pool program launched that is providing immediate access to coverage for people in every state who have been uninsured for six months or more and have a pre-existing condition such as cancer.
Public opinion polls continue to show that the public’s awareness of the law’s specific provisions is disturbingly low. But polls also continue to show that public support for the bill increases dramatically once people understand its provisions. These findings make it extremely important to ensure that Society and ACS CAN volunteers and staff are aware of the patient protections in the law. Attached is an information sheet that lists important provisions that are already in effect, that take effect September 23, and that go into effect in the coming months and years.
Kaiser Family Foundation Releases “Health Reform Hits Main Street” Animated Movie
The Kaiser Family Foundation launched a short animated movie this week on its health reform website featuring “You Toons.” The short movie addresses a number of complex provisions in the Affordable Care Act in an effort to help Americans understand what is in the new law and how it may impact them. Journalist Cokie Roberts, a member of Kaiser’s board of trustees, narrates the movie.
HHS Announces Funding for Public Health Systems and Infrastructure Projects
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced funding this week that will be awarded to 49 states, eight federally recognized tribes, Washington, D.C., five territories and three Affiliated Pacific Island jurisdictions to implement projects totaling $42.5 million. Supported through the Prevention and Public Health Fund that was created by the Affordable Care Act, the funding will help state health departments work more effectively and efficiently to respond to public health problems such as cancer. Click here for additional information and a list of awardees and funding levels.
New ACS CAN Partnership to Help the Public Understand the Affordable Care Act
Last week, ACS CAN entered into a partnership with the American Medical Association, AARP, the American Nurses Association, the American Community Pharmacists Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Catholic Health Association and the American College of Physicians to develop information and tools to help the public and health professionals understand the provisions of the new law.
The partnership will develop a joint website with informational materials, encourage events, and engage in other efforts to provide accurate information about the new law’s provisions. After playing a significant role in supporting meaningful improvements to the health care system, we and the other groups bear a responsibility to help educate the public about how the law works. We hope this powerful collaboration will cause people to take notice of how the law could benefit them and leverage the Society and ACS CAN’s continuing efforts to inform people with cancer and the public at large about the new law’s protections for patients.
Patients Discuss How the Affordable Care Act Will Benefit Them
Cancer patients and survivors are seeing the benefits of the new provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Click here to hear from the Brainards from West Virginia, a family who thought husband Carl might have to put off treatment because of a lifetime limit on his insurance policy. Thanks to the law’s ban on lifetime limits, the Brainards won't have to choose between fighting for Carl’s life or their lifesavings.
Christopher W. Hansen
President
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)