On Sunday, March 21, 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the landmark healthcare bill. It was not passed in the customary manner, where the House passes a version and the Senate passes their own version, then the two are merged with compromises before it is voted on again by both houses, then sent to the president for his signature and becomes law.
It is a well-known fact that the Republicans have been receiving their instructions from the health insurance companies, who heavily fund their re-election campaigns and who do not want a health bill at all. Revision means forcing them to insure millions of marginally healthy people as well as those with bad health records (pre-existing conditions).
This time, the House passed the Senate bill without any changes. Healthcare became law when the president signed it on Tuesday, March 23.
To fulfill promises made to House lawmakers, reconciliation to the main healthcare bill was passed first by the Senate, then the House. Republicans offered 40 amendments to the bill, in a final desperate attempt to change the bill enough to force the House to vote again, but Democrats steadily rejected each amendment.
In the end, Republicans voted unanimously against the reconciliation, threatening to take the issue to their election campaigns to win enough seats to repeal healthcare.
Every November, the entire House and one-third of the Senate are re-elected. Many of the Republican amendments were specifically aimed for votes that could be made to sound embarrassing for Democratic lawmakers running for re-election.
The main points of the healthcare legislation include:
- New consumer protections for denial of coverage based on pre-existing conditions (effective for adults in 2014, but children in 2010). Adults currently with pre-existing conditions uninsured for a minimum six months can enroll in a temporary high-risk pool with subsidized premiums (effective June 2010).
- Lifetime coverage limits—eliminated (effective 2010).
- Coverage dropped after a sickness—prohibited.
- Waiting period for coverage limited to 90 days.
- Child coverage under parents plan—extended to age 26 (effective September 2010).
- Individuals under age 30 without insurance can purchase catastrophic coverage on the new health insurance exchanges.
- Coverage will be portable for employees that leave a job.
- Health insurance exchanges (effective 2014) will be created with minimum standards and competing plans available to pool risks for small businesses and uninsured individuals.
- New policies issued after September 2010 will fully cover preventive care visits and screenings. Doctors will get paid for seeing uninsured patients they are now treating for free.
- Businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible for tax credits for up to 35 percent of health insurance premiums paid. Pooling risks with other small businesses will stabilize costs.
- Employers will disclose the cost of workers health insurance on their W-2 (starting 2011)
- Medicare beneficiaries with the Part D drug benefit who fall into the coverage gap (“donut hole”) will receive a $250 rebate in 2010. Starting 2011, they will receive a 50% discount on brand-name drugs, with the gap closing by 2020.
- Medicare members will not pay more than three times the average premium paid by a healthy younger person, even though middle-aged Americans use more than five times the amount of health services.
- Medicare Advantage plan reimbursements will be cut back from benefits currently offered, which give members more choices than standard Medicare plans and cost about 15 percent more than the average Medicare plan. Some of these cuts would be offset by a new deal with drug companies to sell medications not covered by Medicare at half price.
- Medicaid will be expanded, making it available to an estimated 16 million more people with incomes up to one-third above the poverty income line, including adults without dependent children. Community health centers will receive enhanced funding.
- Subsidies provided over the next 10 years for low to moderate-income people without employer health benefits will enable about 32 million uninsured to buy plans on health-insurance exchanges.
- Medical expense tax deduction threshold will be raised to 10% of adjusted gross income (effective 2013). Seniors (age 65 and older) would be able to claim an itemized deduction at the current standard of 7.5% (through 2016).
- Flexible spending health account rules remain the same for three years. A $2,500 cap on contributions (with cost-of-living adjustments) appears likely to go into effect in 2013.
- Health savings account penalty for withdrawing funds for nonqualified medical expenses increases to 20% (effective 2011).
- All citizens and legal residents will be required to have health insurance. Subsidies will be on an income sliding scale up to 4 times the poverty line.
- Fines will be imposed on those who decline health insurance (starting 2014); the higher of $95 or 1% of income, growing to $695 or 2.5% of income (2016).
- For individuals with earnings greater than $200,000 and married couples earning more than $250,000 the Medicare payroll tax will rise in the next two years to 2.35%. A new 3.8% Medicare tax will be applied to investment income (including interest, dividends and capital gains) that exceed those thresholds.
- For job-based “Cadillac” plans (annual premiums exceeding $10,200 for individuals or $27,500 for families), plan administrators will be taxed 40 percent (effective in the next few years). Limits are higher for certain high-risk jobs and retirees.
- Fees will be imposed on insurance and pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers (starting 2014).
- Health plans will be required to report the proportion of premium dollars spent on clinical services, quality, and other costs and provide rebates to consumers.
- A new federal body will be created that would have power to block insurers from raising rates.
- Higher taxes will reduce the federal deficit by nearly $140 billion over 10 years.
It does not include a public option to compete with private insurers.
Read the bill at The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010
Wonderful article! You are truly blessed with writing talent. Your article gave me many original points to ponder. Thank you for thought-provoking and interesting material.
It is better have your blog at hand than just searching on the web all the time.
I really appreciate interesting articles like yours. This is very good content. Your points are represented with original writing and your content is well-written. Information like this is good to have for readers. Thank you.
Well written articles like yours renews my faith in today’s writers. You’ve written information I can finally agree on and use. Thank you for sharing.
Wow really a great post. I like this.I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that .Lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need!
I am glad you chose to share your knowledge through this article. I’ve been researching this information for a while and came out confused and disappointed until now. Thank you.
Found your web site and decided to use a fast read, not what a usually do but nice one. Nice to see a blog for any change that isn
Wow! I know that’s a lame thing to say in a comment, but I am just so blown away by your article. It’s loaded with important information and interesting points that I can relate to.
If more people that write articles really concerned themselves with writing great content like you, more readers would be interested in their writings. Thank you for caring about your content.
This is a terrific article. You make sense with your views and I agree with you on many. Some information got me thinking. That’s a sign of a great article.
Amazing stuff.
After searching for weeks, I finally found the information I needed in your article. I placed this in my favorites for fast reference access later.
Outstanding article! I just had to take the time to thank you for writing an article with such great information. You make valid points and I have to agree with you on many of them.
This is quality writing. It’s been a while since I’ve read such good material. This writer has it going on in writing style and perceptions.
I’m so impressed with how well you have gathered and put together this article. It’s well formatted and written. Quality work like this is a rarity. I appreciate the information and I agree with you.
Your content is excellent and contains tons of great information. Your perceptions on this topic are interesting, profound and different. I agree with a lot of this material. Thank you.
Only a great writer can get their point across in words. You are such a writer and I appreciate this information more than you know.
It’s been a while since I read about this subject online or offline. You’ve made a lot of points that are clearly original and well-researched.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge in this article. I appreciate the vast research you must have done to write this informational content. Your material is compelling, interesting and well-written.
It’s not easy finding information on this topic that is well-written, easy to read and easy to grasp. That’s why I felt moved to put a comment here to let you know this is great.
You have put great unique views in this content. I agree with many of your primary points. This information is clearly written for readers that enjoy very challenging content. This is perfect for us thinkers.
Thanks for providing me with this valuable content. I am highly impressed with your writing abilities and your insight. I hope to read more soon.
You are an impressive writer. I am impressed with how well you expressed your views in this article. This is very intelligent and thought-provoking content.
Your grasp of this topic is amazing. It really touched base to me and I am glad I found this material. Thank you very much.
I know there are many good writers out there, but you really stand out from the crowd. I had to let you know how much I appreciate the info you have in this material. Thanks.
The informative content in this article is what I like to see writers write. This material is well-written, interesting and intelligent. The inclusion of solidly made points is a plus.
I really got into this article. I found it to be interesting and loaded with unique points of interest. I like to read material that makes me think. Thank you for writing this great content.
It’s an unusual privilege to read quality articles these days. Your article has the qualities of great professionally written content that’s unique, original and interesting.
Keep it up
It’s an honor to read good quality content like you have written here. You have proven your true writing talent and presented your views well.
Your article grabbed my attention. I like how well you have expressed your views and how compelling your content is to the reader. I am thankful I got to read this top quality informational article.
Recommended work! This can be a type of details that is shared online.
Great job on this article. I haven’t read anything this thought-provoking in a long, long time. I agree with much of what you have stated. This is well laid out and written in my opinion.
not bad,not bad. i say that it’s useful info!!
You have done a great job with this informative article. I am intrigued with your ideas and I agree with you on most. Thank you.
Passion for writing is a good thing. Passion for what you write is an amazing thing. It’s evident by the way you have written this article that you have both.
I haven’t been interested in an article like yours in a long time. Your take on this subject pulls a lot of weight with me. Your article is very intelligent and I enjoyed reading it.
Too many times I read uninteresting articles on subjects similar to this and lose interest in reading them. I’m delighted to see that you have changed my status on this subject by writing interesting material.
I wish I had a dime for every bad article I’ve read lately. I also wish other writers had your talent and style. Thank you.
I am very impressed with your content. I think it’s so engaging due to your unique ideas and interesting wording. Thank you for writing informative content that is written in a sensible and intelligent manner.
How seldom do I have the honor of quality reading content with which I agree. This excellent article has given me reason to pause and take many factors into consideration.
Well, I have been reading your blog posts daily and the reason I come on your blog frequently is its compelling content