This is what change is all about ..... Oh, Yes, he DID (um part 2? or is it part 3....)

[merlynn_valen]

Well, most of you already know that the House passed the Senate version of the Health Insurance Reform Bill. There is a second bill that includes the amendments agreed to in the reconciliation committee meetings. That was also ratified by the House. The Senate is scheduled to consider it later this week. I believe that is one that includes a major reform of the student loan system, in part to allow the Department of Education to provide incentives to physicians to become primary care providers. The first bill will be signed into a law tomorrow. It is likely that the second bill will signed into law in late April.

All I can say is it's about Fracking time! I'm one of the 13% of America who thought this bill didn't go far enough within the so-called 61% who disagreed with this bill. I felt and still feel that a public option is necessary, but this bill is a good first step.


A quick look at the most poplar immediate effects of the first bill (that will remain after the Senate passes the "Reconciliation Bill") are:

1. Children cannot be denied health insurance coverage for preexisting conditions [including being born in the first place]. Adults will be protected in 2014.
   
2. Businesses with less than 50 employees get a tax credit to offset their part of the cost of insurance premiums [an amazingly good idea for small businesses... I hope].
   
3. There is a hole in Medicare Part D coverage restricting prescription drug coverage when expenditures exceed $2,700 [Wait, a Republican idea that promised something and put confusing restrictions on it, denying coverage at the same time. I guess we know who was paying their reelection campaign bills, huh?]. This bill provides a rebate to seniors to help cover this loophole. [Doesn't it make you feel warm and fuzzy that the GOP wants to overturn this bill immediately. They really care about my dad, a Vietnam-era veteran and a Naval Reserve Captain with 33 years of service. Gosh, thanks, Rep. Boehner and you, too, Senator McConnell. Oh, and how could we forget his senator, Lamar Alexander.]
   
4. Young adults can be covered on their parents health insurance policies until age 27. [Gee, in this post-Bush economy, with unemployment among high school graduates approaching 50% and college graduates at 36%, it sounds like a necessary idea to me.]
   
5. Lifetime caps on coverage are banned. Annual caps will be limited six months from bill signing and completely banned in 2014.
   
6. Starting almost immediately, a high risk pool, backed by $5 billion dollars, will be created to cover people with preexisting conditions. This will be folded into the health exchange system in 2014. [Incidentally, this is how France handles the first few years of care for people with preexisting conditions entering their system as well. Oh wait, that must be the reason the GOP keeps calling this the "Europeanization of 'Merica."]
   
7. All new insurance plans must cover checkups and preventive care without ANY co-payments. All other plans must include this coverage by 2018. [Great idea. They should have included all plans renewing in the calendar year as well. But, it does creates some incentive to go to a competitor if your current carrier refuses to add this coverage for a reasonable fee.]
   
8. [OMFG this is the BEST one yet, so much so I have to bold-face it] As of the signing of the bill, no insurance company may cut someone because they get sick. [This is the most reprehensible practice in the insurance industry, and the most common one as well.]
   
9. Carriers must reveal exactly how much of the money in the premiums is being spent on overhead, including fund manager bonuses. [Is this the part that's the government take over of health care? I'm confused. Help me, Rep. Boehner....]
   
10. New plans must implement an appeals process for determinations of coverage and claims. [I hope that stops denial of coverage. Currently, those are the death panels at insurance companies. Maybe the appeals process is the government death panel the crazy ex-governor and tea-bagger extraordinaire from Alaska keeps raving about?]
    
11. [OMG I almost fell out of my chair when I read this one.] A 10% tax will be levied on tanning services in the US and its territories, starting July 1, 2010. {ROFLMAO. Um, the best part is that this tax replaced a tax on (wait for it).... elective cosmetic surgery. What will the Dems do next, tax the rest of the GOP's spa trips?]
    
12. New screening procedures [hope to] eliminate fraud.
    
13. Medicare will be expanded to cover rural area medical facilities that are not covered currently due to a small number of Medicare patients. [Maybe this is the unfunded mandate that the GOP was screaming about?!?]
    
14. In order to maintain their current tax-exempt status, non-profit Blue Cross organizations must maintain at least an 85% loss to premium ratio. This means that outlays for medical procedures and costs must reflect at least 85% of the premiums or investment profits coming into the fund. [This is a good provision. Anthem, the parent of many of the Blue Cross organizations, has been pocketing the leftover capital in closed funds and most reorganized funds. They call it a "management" fee.]
    
15. All chain restaurants are required to post their nutritional information on the menu, using the FDA guidelines, including drive-through menus. [I really do wonder if this includes local chains. I also wonder how big the chains have to be before this effects them.]
    
16. Retirees between the ages of 55-64 [yeah, the ones the GOP forgot about during the Bush rightsizing of America] now have a program to help defray the excessive cost of insurance coverage until Medicare takes over.
    
17. An HHS website for individuals and small businesses that will provide plan information, including plans in other states. As the exchanges come into being, it will provide information on the options available there as well. [As a side note, the Reconciliation Bill will allow people to buy insurance across state lines, finally breaking the existing state health insurance monopolies or oligarchies found in a number of states under the current system. Incidentally, this was one of Senator McCain's ideas.]
    
18. A temporary credit of up to $1 billion to encourage new therapies and treatment methods.
    

Thanks to The Huffington Post for this information.
Items in brackets are my own commentary on the subject, subversive that I am.