Benefits to Health Care Reform

http://my.democrats.org/page/content/firstyearbenefits

By 2014, health reform will eliminate all discrimination for pre-existing conditions, expand health insurance for 32 million additional Americans, and provide the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history.

It will take four years to fully implement these reforms in a responsible way, but a host of desperately-needed reforms and consumer protections will take effect this year.

• This year, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage.
• This year, health care plans will allow young people to remain on their parents' insurance policy up until their 26th birthday.
• This year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick, and they will be banned from implementing lifetime caps on coverage.
• This year, adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool.
• This year, small businesses that choose to offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help make employee coverage more affordable.
• This year, new private plans will be required to provide free preventive care: no co-payments and no deductibles for preventive services.
• This year, early retirees will have help in the form of a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums for employers and retirees age 55-64.
• This year, seniors who fall into the Medicare Part D 'donut hole' coverage gap will receive a $250 rebate to help pay for prescription drugs.