Health Care Reform

Goverment and health insurance1In a groundbreaking vote late last night, the House of Representatives passed the long-awaited health reform bill that would largely transform our troubled health care system and expand coverage to 32 million Americans. After more than a year of debate (not to mention decades of failed efforts), it is now all but assured that comprehensive health-reform will become law.

It’s been a long road since the House first passed its health-care reform bill last November, but the chamber finally passed the Senate version, along with some important changes that help address lingering concerns around about the affordability of premiums, financing provisions, and equalizing state access to new federal funding. The Senate will now have to pass those changes separately for them to become law.

Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports, has pushed for comprehensive health-care reform since it was founded in 1936, and recently called for quick passage of this bill. Shortly after the vote in the House, Consumers Union’s president, Jim Guest, said:

"Consumers Union applauds the House of Representatives for its historic action today to address the vital health care needs of American consumers. While the new reforms won't solve all the problems in our nation's broken health-care system, they will go a long way toward achieving the goal of affordable, reliable health care for all Americans. We urge the U.S. Senate to act quickly to approve the companion measure so that it, too, can be signed into law."

Here are some highlights from the bill that President Obama is expected to sign into law this week:

No insurance company will be able to deny you health insurance for a pre-existing condition, or drop your coverage if you get sick.

Insurance companies won’t be able to cap the amount of care you may need for a serious illness, or stop paying your claims and leave you with devastating medical bills.

All your recommended preventive care will be completely covered without any deductibles – that includes colonoscopies, mammograms, and the like.

If you buy insurance on your own, you would get the same choice of coverage that members of Congress get.

If you have decent coverage now through your job, you keep it. But if your employer drops your health insurance, or makes you pay more than 8 percent of your income on your premium, you could get help to buy your own policy in an insurance "shopping mall," or "exchange."

If you hit a rough financial patch – a layoff or dramatic drop in your income – you could get help to buy your own policy through tax credits. The less money you have coming in, the cheaper the policy.

And many provisions take effect right away. Within the first few months young adults will be able to stay on their parents plans until the age of 26; people with pre-existing conditions will be able to buy into a high-risk pool; insurance plans will no longer be able to deny coverage for children with pre-existing conditions; Medicare benefits will be expanded; and small businesses will be eligible for new tax credits, among other instant provisions.

"We think it’s a big step forward," Bill Vaughan, policy analyst for Consumers Union, told the New York Times. "It’s going to provide a peace of mind that many Americans who really want or need health insurance will always be able to get a quality product at a reasonable price regardless of their health or financial situation."