Health Care Reform

The Affordable Care Act was designed to improve quality and lower costs of health care; provide consumer protections, mainly in regard to insurance coverage; and increase access to care, especially among lower income, uninsured, and underinsured populations.

Highlights of the law include:

• Guaranteed coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions
• No annual or lifetime dollar limits on coverage benefits
• Capped annual out-of-pocket expenses
• No dropped coverage due to illness, simple errors in application, or participation in clinical trials
• Equitable premiums, regardless of gender or pre-existing conditions
• Coverage for young adults, up to age 26, on parent’s policy
• Preventative care coverage, including full cost of some screenings, tests, and vaccines
• Essential health benefit coverage, to include coverage for
  • Ambulatory patient services
  • Emergency services
  • Hospitalization
  • Maternity and newborn care
  • Mental health and substance use disorder services
  • Prescription drugs
  • Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices
  • Laboratory services
  • Preventative and wellness services and chronic disease management
  • Pediatric services, including oral and vision care
• Concurrent hospice and curative care options for parents of children with special health care needs.