Conyers: One Year Later Affordable Care Act Already Improves Coverage and Lowers Healthcare Costs

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For Immediate Release

Date: Friday, September 23, 2011

Contact: Matthew Morgan – 202-226-5543

Conyers: One Year Later Affordable Care Act Already Improves Coverage and Lowers Healthcare Costs   September 23rd marks First Anniversary of Affordable Care Act’s Patient’s Bill of Rights (WASHINGTON) – Today marks the first year anniversary of the Patient’s Bill of Rights, a law passed as part of the healthcare reform bill formally known as the Affordable Care Act.   The protections of the Patient’s Bill of Rights became effective for all health insurance plan years beginning on or after September 23, 2010.  In response to this milestone, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the following statement: “Because of the Patient’s Bill of Rights, American families are no longer subject to the whims of insurance companies,” said Conyers.  “The common sense protections enacted by the Affordable Care Act are already improving the lives of millions of Americans currently covered by private insurance, including young adults, children with pre-existing conditions, seniors, and small business owners.” Under the Patient’s Bill of Rights, the 165 million Americans currently covered by private insurance now receive the following protections:  ·         You can no longer be arbitrarily dropped from coverage by your insurance company simply because you get sick. ·         Your insurance company can no longer place a lifetime limit on your coverage. ·         Your insurance company can no longer place low annual limits on your coverage. ·         If you are under age 65 and in a new plan, you are now receiving free key preventive services. In addition, as a result of the Patient’s Bill of Rights: ·         If you are a young adult, you can now stay on your parents’ health plan until your 26th birthday, if you do not have coverage of your own.  Because of this provision, one million additional young people have gained coverage over the last year. ·         If you have a child under age 19, they can no longer be denied coverage by an insurance company for having a “pre-existing condition.”  Up to 17 million children with pre-existing conditions are now protected from discrimination. In addition to the Patient’s Bill of Rights, the Affordable Care Act provided new Medicare benefits for seniors, which became effective on January 1, 2011.  These new Medicare benefits include the following: ·         Seniors are now receiving a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs when they are in the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ coverage gap.  Nearly 1.3 million seniors have already received the discount. ·         Seniors are now receiving free key preventive health services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, under Medicare.  Nearly 19 million seniors have already received one or more free preventive services. ·         Seniors are now receiving a free Annual Wellness Visit under Medicare.  1.3 million seniors have already taken advantage of the new free Annual Wellness Visit. Finally, under the Affordable Care Act, small businesses are provided tax credits of up to 35 percent of employer premium contributions for those small businesses that choose to offer coverage.  The tax credits became effective at the beginning  of the 2010 tax year.  There are up to 4 million small businesses eligible for this tax credit. ###