The Next Great Voyage...

"For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make."

-Edward Kennedy

For decades, it has been apparent that our current healthcare system was not sustainable. Numerous times there were attempts at reform but each time it fell short. Whether it was organized medicine or health plans or both, parties opposed to reform of the U.S. healthcare system defeated any and all attempts. However, after almost a 100 years of waiting, health reform was signed into law March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama.

I know I know, there's still Reconciliation and signing that Act into law, but the major piece of legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is now the law of the land. There will be attempts to block or delay Reconciliation and campaigning on the repeal of the law by its many opponents. They will continue to reiterate their talking points of taxes, and excess spending, and baby-killing, and government take overs of healthcare, and taking away powers from the States, and Medicare cuts, and many other attacks on the reform bill and those that helped get it enacted. It is important for everyone to know the benefits of this bill and how it impact yous as a health care consumer. Below I will break down the different beneficial provisions in the bill and provide some additional resources for more, CORRECT, information.

I will admit this bill is far from perfect, but few legislation is. There are still additional measures that must be enacted to help control costs, including revising payment structure to physicians, increasing emphasis on prevention and wellness, and tort reform. Tort reform or more specifically medical malpractice reform will limit payments in frivalous malpractice lawsuits and potentially reduce the costs of medical liability insurance to doctors. It is my theory that the delay in implementation is to ensure the health care industry has the proper staff to accomodate all the new patients but also to allow for cost containment reforms in healthcare before the uninsured are fully integrated into the system.

• Prevents Health insurance plans from excluding children (2010) and everyone (2014) due to pre-existing conditions
• Prevents health plans from having lifetime caps of plans
• Requires all new private health insurance plans (2010) and all plans (2018) to offer FREE preventive care
• Helps employers that offer health benefits to retired employees age 55-64
• Ensures patients have an intenral and external appeals process for denied claims
• Requires medical loss ratio of 80% for plans in individual and small group market; 85% for large group plans. Plans that do not meet this requirement must provide rebates to policyholders. Medical loss ratio - percent of the premium that must be spent on medical care.
• Creates a temporary high-risk pool for unisured Americans with pre-existing conditions
• Requires health plans to allow parents to maintain their children on their policy until 26
• Offers assistance to states setting up offices for consumers to assist them in complaints and appeals
• Provides tax credits to small businesses to cover the cost of premiums for workers 35% of premiums (2010); 50% (2014).
• Provides rebates to seniors in the donuthole 
• Provides funds to Community Health Centers
• Provides funds for training programs to develop more primary care physicians, nurses, etc
• Imposes 10% tax on tanning activies (This provision always seemed random to me)
• Establishes long-term care voluntary insurance program
• Reduces payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Medicar Advantage - private health insurance plans provided to Seniors to provide some services not covered by Medicare
• Imposes an annual fee on drug companies
• Establishes health insurance exchanges for individuals and small groups to purchase plans
• Creates nonprofit insurance co-ops to compete with private health insurance plans
• Medicare payments will be decreased for hospitals with high rates 
• Standardizes administrative paperwork for health insurance plans
• Imposes sales tax on medical devices
• Imposes an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for individuals making over $200,000 or families making over $250,000.
• Provides subsidies for those purchasing insurance through exchanges
• Requires all Americans to have health insurance by 2014
• Expands Medicaid to cover all Americans up to 133% of Federal Poverty Level

Resources
NCSL - Federal Health Care Reform
Washington Post Express - Health Care Reform Timeline
Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals