Earlier this year, the Supreme Court heard days of oral arguments about different aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They are expected to reveal their decision soon. Here is a quick list of what Americans could lose if the ACA is overturned. How would the loss of these benefits affect your family?
The Affordable Care Act was signed in 2010. Since then, there have been a series of changes taking place. You can check out the timeline on the HealthCare.gov website to see all the details. There are many things that have already gone into affect that are currently helping Americans to afford health insurance. All those good things could, potentially, disappear if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act.
Young adults who are between the ages of 18 and 26 can be covered under their parent’s health insurance plans. This went into affect in September of 2010. If the ACA is overturned, young adults will go back to being among the largest group of uninsured Americans.
In July of 2010, the ACA created the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). It provides health insurance coverage options to people who were previously considered to be uninsurable by private health insurance companies. The PCIP has helped many Americans find health insurance coverage. That could disappear if the ACA is overturned.
Health plans that were purchased on, or after, September 23, 2010 are required to cover preventative care without charging the policyholder for a co-pay, deductible, or co-insurance. This included things like mammograms, colonoscopies, and much more.
Additional things were added into the category of preventative care that went into affect on August 1, 2011. This covered well woman visits, contraception, and more. If the ACA is overturned, Americans could end up going back to the days when they were expected to pay out of pocket for preventative care. Can your family afford that additional expense?
The ACA established another regulation on health plans that were purchased on, or after, September 23, 2010. It prohibited health insurance companies from imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits (such as hospital stays). The same regulation prevents insurers from imposing an annual dollar limit on the amount of health care that they will cover. Do we really want to go back to the days when the insurers could drop you if you became too expensive for them?
Another protection that the ACA is currently providing affects children. As of September 23, 2010, insurance companies were prohibited from denying coverage to children under the age of 19 who had a pre-existing condition. If the ACA falls, there may not be anything stopping insurers from seeing your child as an expense instead of as a human being that needs health care.
Image by Nancy Pelosi on Flickr