Without this requirement, only 1 in 3 people covered through the individual market would have had access to SUD treatment. Many people in rural and other medically underserved communities rely on community health centers and other Federally Qualified Health Centers FQHCs for comprehensive primary care.
Federal grants provide 1 in 5 revenue dollars that community health centers receive, and 70 percent of that funding comes from the Health Center Trust Fund set up by the ACA. Before the ACA closed the coverage gap, about 5 million Medicare enrollees fell into it.
The ACA also invested in other improvements for the Medicare program by establishing the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation , which is responsible for developing ways to improve patient care and lower health care costs. Prior to the ACA, people would be functionally uninsured after hitting arbitrary annual or lifetime coverage limits. The ACA prohibits insurers from setting coverage limits, as well as from denying coverage or raising prices for preexisting conditions.
Medicaid expansion has helped many disabled people and caregivers access care based on their income status. Not all disabled people qualify for the traditional Medicaid disability pathway. Medicaid expansion allows disabled people to join the workforce without jeopardizing their Medicaid benefits and gives low-income workers a fallback option for coverage if they lose access to employer-sponsored insurance.
Essential health benefits help disabled people access necessary services. Prior to the ACA, 45 percent of individual market plans did not cover SUD services and 38 percent did not cover mental health care. Following ACA implementation, people with mental health conditions became significantly less likely to report unmet need due to cost of mental health care.
The ACA has helped millions of Americans gain insurance coverage, saved thousands of lives, and strengthened the health care system. The law has been life-changing for people who were previously uninsured, have lower incomes, or have preexisting conditions, among other groups.
Emily Gee is the health economist of Health Policy at the Center. Maura Calsyn is the managing director of Health Policy at the Center. Emily Gee. Topher Spiro , Emily Gee.
Colin Seeberger Director, Media Relations. Peter Gordon Director, Government Affairs. Madeline Shepherd Director, Government Affairs. Insurance companies would no longer be required to issue rebates when they overcharge Americans.
The ACA protects people with preexisting conditions from discrimination Prior to the ACA, insurers in the individual market routinely set pricing and benefit exclusions and denied coverage to people based on their health status, a practice known as medical underwriting. That should be my choice. I didn't go to the doctor for five years. They paid out-of-pocket for the few medical issues they had.
Unwilling to pay that much, Buxton searched for alternate options. This year, the couple is covered through Medi-Share, offered by Christian Care Ministries, which meets the criteria for coverage under Obamacare.
Related: How Congress could kill Obamacare after all. The catch is that it doesn't cover any pre-existing conditions for the past three years, so Buxton has to pay for physical therapy stemming from the hip replacement and shoulder surgeries he had last year. Even those who felt their health insurance was fine for years often suddenly found out it was an illusion when serious illness came to their families. Now that is changing. No longer will health insurance be a source of perpetual doubt, no longer will those with pre-existing issues be uninsurable.
If you lose coverage or lose a job that had coverage, there will be a way to access care. There is a new way for families to have peace of mind about finding care. And again, this is not just for the previously uninsured, or even the half of Americans with pre-existing conditions — it is for every American that was one illness or one job-loss away from health coverage purgatory.
Obamacare has brought other benefits for Americans, such as lowering prescription drug costs for some, and putting an end to annual and lifetime limits on coverage. Is the ACA perfect? Far from it. Obamacare is not a failure.
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