No word on who will pay for this. I bet it will be YOU! Does it appear that this plan will save money?
OBAMACARE TIMELINE
2010: Tax credits for businesses: Up to 4 million small businesses are eligible for tax credits of up to 35% of their contribution to insurance benefits for workers.
June 2010: Seniors got a $250 rebate to help cover the $3,600 gap in Medicare drug coverage-“doughnut hole”.
August 31 2010: Enrollment opened in Michigan’s high-risk insurance pool, funded with $141 million in federal subsidies. The pool will operate until 1/1/2014.
September 23, 2010: Several provisions took effect:
- Young adults can stay on a parent’s health plan until age 26.
- Insurers can’t deny coverage for anyone under age 19 for pre-existing conditions.
- Members of new insurance plans cannot be charged for preventive care measures, including immunizations, mammograms and colonoscopies.
- Insurers can’t rescind or retroactively cancel coverage except for fraud or misrepresentation.
- Lifetime limits on benefits such as hospitalization and emergency care banned in new plans.
January 1, 2011:
- Seniors who reach the Medicare drug “doughnut hole” receive a 50% discount on covered brand-name drugs. The coverage gap ends in 2020.
- Free preventive care for seniors.
- Insurers are required generally to spend 80-85% of premiums on health services.
October 1, 2011:
- Community First Choice Option lets states offer home and community-based services through Medicaid, for people with disabilities.
January 1, 2012: Companies must complete 1099 IRS tax forms for each supplier with which they will spend more than $600 this year. (Recently rescinded by Congress.)
March 2012: Federal health programs must collect and report racial, ethnic and language data.
October 1, 2012:
- Hospitals get financial incentives to improve the quality of care, with performance being publicly reported.
- Health plans to begin implementing rules for the secure, confidential, electronic exchange of health information.
- Voluntary long-term care insurance program provides cash benefits to adults who become disabled.
January 1, 2013
- New funding for state Medicaid programs that cover preventive services for patients at little or no cost.
- A national pilot program of paying providers a flat rate for each episode of care rather than billing each service or test separately to Medicare begins.
- Medicaid payments for primary care doctors increase to at least 100% of Medicare payments rates for primary care services for 2013-14.
October 1, 2014: States get two years of funding to continue coverage for children not eligible for Medicaid.
January 1, 2014:
- Insurers are banned from refusing to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions. For individuals and small groups, insurers cannot charge higher rates because of gender or health status.
- Most individuals must obtain health insurance or pay a fee to help offset the costs of caring for the uninsured, with exemptions for those who can’t afford it.
- New plans and existing group plans cannot put annual limits on the amount of coverage an individual may receive.
- Tax credits are provided for people with income up to 400% of the poverty line who are not eligible for other affordable coverage.
- Health insurance exchanges will offer plans for individuals and small businesses that don’t have employer coverage
- The small business tax credit increases to a maximum of 50% of an employer’s health-insurance contribution.
- Increased access to Medicaid for those whose annual incomes are less than 133% of the poverty level (about $29,000 for a family of four).
- Workers who meet certain requirements and can’t afford their workplace coverage can use the employer’s contribution toward buying a plan through a health insurance exchange.
January 1, 2015: Physician payments from Medicare and Medicaid are to be tied to the quality of care provided.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Detroit News research and Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation.
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