Millions Gaining Health Coverage Under Law
Source: NY Times
By ROBERT PEAR and ABBY GOODNOUGH
WASHINGTON — Millions of Americans will begin receiving health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday after years of contention and a rollout hobbled by delays and technical problems. The decisively new moment in the effort to overhaul the country’s health care system will test the law’s central premise: that extending coverage to far more Americans will improve the nation’s health and help many avoid crippling medical bills.
Starting Wednesday, health insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and cannot charge higher premiums to women than to men for the same coverage. In most cases, insurers must provide a standard set of benefits prescribed by federal law and regulations. And they cannot set dollar limits on what they spend on “essential health benefits” for a policyholder.
Though this is a milestone for the law, it is unlikely to end the constant partisan battles that began even before its passage nearly four years ago. Late Tuesday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor temporarily blocked the Obama administration from forcing some religious-affiliated groups to provide coverage of birth control or face penalties.
Doctors, hospitals and pharmacists say consumers could initially experience some delays and difficulties as they try to use their new insurance.
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/us/politics/millions-gaining-health-coverage-under-law.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140101&_r=1&
Virginie Drujon-Kippelen for The New York Times
William Hannah of Cleveland, Ga., will use his new coverage to see a specialist for lower back problems and numbness in his limbs. A tax subsidy puts his premium costs at $56 a month.
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