Health Care

Today was the day that some of the new health care legislation provisions went into effect, mostly for kids and young adults. It took a while to find a news outlet that carried the story. Finally I came across a good summary put together by the good folks at the Baltimore Sun.

The highlights go something like this (not a complete list):

• Insurers can no longer deny coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions
• Annual limits will be banned on new plans (and all plans in 2014)
• Consumers will be able to appeal claims decisions through an external review process
• Up to 4 million small businesses become eligible for tax credits to provide insurance
• An estimated 4 million seniors will begin to receive $250 checks for prescription coverage gaps
• New resources will be used to crack down on health care fraud and waste
• New state or federal pools will offer coverage for adults with pre-existing conditions*
• Incentives such as scholarships and loan repayments will be offered to build up primary care
• States requiring insurers to justify premium increases could win grants and ban insurers from exchanges
• Extra payments will be available to rural health care providers in under-served areas

Above all, full time students can be carried on a parent's insurance plan until they turn 24 years of age.

Now we hear that there is a move afoot to repeal some or all of the reforms. This has become a political football based not in facts but ideology. Someone has decided that it would be cheaper to go back to the old way of doing business rather than getting what we are doing right, while at the same time helping others. What they do not realize is that it is in the best interest of the country from a security standpoint to take care of our own as best we can. Citizens that are unhappy with the basic needs they receive are more likely to create problems.

Most of all it is the kids that are going to be paying for the mistakes of those who have come before them. Doesn't it make sense to have them live longer in order to pay more of our way?

The complete Baltimore Sun article can be found at http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/health-care/bs-hs-health-insurance-for-young-20100920,0,1703938,full.story