Washington, D.C. – Today, U. S. Representative John D. Dingell (D-MI15) announced that one year after his authored Patient’s Bill of Rights in the Affordable Care Act began to go into effect millions of Americans are benefiting from the improved coverage and lower costs provided by the Act.
The protections of the Patient’s Bill of Rights became effective for all plan years a year ago today, beginning on or after September 23, 2010. That means that, one year later, all Americans with private health plans are now receiving the protections of the Bill of Rights.
“It took years of hard work and effort for Congress to finally pass the Patient’s Bill of Rights. What happened a year ago cannot be underscored. I have long advocated for its passage because I believe that American and their families should be in charge of their health care and not fat cat insurance CEOs. The Affordable Care Act is responsible for this,” said Dingell. “The ACA is already enhancing the livelihood of many Americans across the board, including young adults, children with pre-existing conditions, owners of small businesses, and seniors, along with all of the 165 million Americans who have private insurance. We cannot let my friends on the other side of the aisle rollback this progress.”
Under the Patient’s Bill of Rights, if you are one of the 165 million Americans with private insurance, you are now receiving the following protections:
· Americans can no longer be arbitrarily dropped from coverage by an insurance company simply because of getting sick.
Insurance companies can no longer place a lifetime limit on coverage.
Insurance companies can no longer place low annual limits on coverage.
Americans under age 65 and in a new plan are now receiving free key preventive services.
In addition, because of the Patient’s Bill of Rights:
· Young adults without individual coverage can now stay on their parents’ health plan until they turn 26, which has already helped one million additional young people gain coverage over the last year.
· Children under age 19 can no longer be denied coverage by an insurance company for having a “pre-existing condition.” Up to 17 million children with pre-existing conditions are now protected from discrimination.
In addition to the Patient’s Bill of Rights, the Affordable Care Act also provides new Medicare benefits for America’s seniors, which became effective on January 1, 2011. These new Medicare benefits include the following:
· Seniors are now receiving a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs when they are in the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ coverage gap. Nearly 1.3 million seniors have already received the discount.
Seniors are now receiving free key preventive health services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, under Medicare. Nearly 19 million seniors have already received one or more free preventive services.
Seniors are now receiving a free Annual Wellness Visit under Medicare. 1.3 million Seniors have already taken advantage of the new free Annual Wellness Visit.
Finally, for small businesses that choose to offer coverage, the Affordable Care Act provides tax credits of up to 35 percent of employer premium contributions. The tax credits became effective beginning in tax year 2010. Currently, there are up to 4 million small businesses that are eligible for this tax credit.
“Congress has a duty to educate American families of the important ways the Affordable Care Act is increasing their control of their health care. The first anniversary of the Patient’s Bill of Rights makes the improvement of coverage and lowering of costs for individuals and their families,” said Dingell. “These new protections and benefits improve the lives and health of millions of Americans. Some in Congress still have to the audacity to try to repeal all of these protections, but as one of the authors of the Affordable Care Act and a longtime advocate for the Patient’s Bill of Rights I will vigorously fight to ensure that they are never taken away.”
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