New Report Shows
Real Benefits of the Affordable Care Act for the People of Arizona
On July, 31 of 2013 the
Obama Administration issued a new report highlighting the benefits of the
Affordable Care Act for the people of Arizona. Thanks to the health care law, the 82% of Arizonans
who have insurance have more choices and stronger coverage than ever before. And for the 18%
of Arizonans who don’t have insurance, or
Arizona families and small businesses who buy their coverage but
aren’t happy with it, a new day is just around the corner.
“Soon, the
Health Insurance Marketplace will provide families and small businesses who
currently don’t have insurance, or are looking for a better deal, a new way to
find health coverage that fits their needs and their budgets,” said Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Open
enrollment in the Marketplace starts Oct 1, with coverage starting as soon as
Jan 1, 2014. But Arizonafamilies and small business can visit HealthCare.gov right
now to find the information they need prepare for open enrollment.
Better Options
Beginning Oct 1, the Health Insurance
Marketplace will make it easy for Arizonansto compare qualified health plans, get
answers to questions, find out if they are eligible for lower costs for private
insurance or health programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP), and enroll in health coverage.
By the Numbers: Uninsured Arizonans who are eligible for coverage through the Marketplace.
·
947,878 (18%) are uninsured and eligible
·
695,083 (73%) have a full-time worker in the
family
·
338,111 (36%) are 18-35 years old
·
411,776 (43%) are White
·
50,017 (5%) are African American
· 366,713 (39%) are Latino/Hispanic
·
26,771 (3%) are Asian American or Pacific
Islander
·
544,266 (57%) are male
866,371 (91%) of Arizona’s uninsured and eligible population may qualify for either tax credits to purchase coverage in the
Marketplace or for Medicaid if Arizonatakes advantage of the new opportunity to
expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Arizona has
received $30,877,097 in grants for research, planning, information technology
development, and implementation of its Health Insurance Marketplace.
Under the health care law, if your plan covers children, you
can now add or keep your children on your health insurance policy until they
turn 26 years old. Thanks to this provision, over 3 million young people
who would otherwise have been uninsured have gained coverage nationwide,
including 69,000 young adults in Arizona.
As many as 2,794,358 non-elderly Arizonans have some type of
pre-existing health condition, including 410,684 children. Today, insurers can no
longer deny coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition, like
asthma or diabetes, under the health care law. And beginning in 2014, health
insurers will no longer be able to charge more or deny coverage to anyone
because of a pre-existing condition. The health care law also established
a temporary health insurance program for individuals who were denied health
insurance coverage because of a pre-existing condition. 4,861Arizonans with pre-existing
conditions have gained coverage through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance
Plan since the program began.
Better Value
Health insurance companies now have to
spend at least 80 cents of your premium dollar on health care or improvements
to care, or provide you a refund. This means that 423,981Arizona
residents with private insurance coverage will benefit from $18,711,067 in refunds from insurance companies
this year, for an average refund of $71
per family covered by a policy.
In every State and for the first time under Federal law,
insurance companies are required to publicly justify their actions if they want
to raise rates by 10 percent or more. Arizona has received $3,000,000 under the new
law to help fight unreasonable premium increases. Since implementing the law, the fraction of
requests for insurance premium increases of 10 percent or more has dropped
dramatically, from 75 percent to 14 percent
nationally. To date, the rate review program has helped save Americans an
estimated $1 billion.
Removing lifetime limits on health benefits
The law bans insurance companies from imposing lifetime
dollar limits on health benefits – freeing cancer patients and individuals
suffering from other chronic diseases from having to worry about going without
treatment because of their lifetime limits. Already, 2,091,000 people in Arizona, including 769,000 women and 570,000 children, are free from worrying about lifetime limits on
coverage. The law also restricts the use of annual limits and bans them
completely in 2014.
Better Health
The health care law requires many insurance
plans to provide coverage without cost sharing to enrollees for a variety of
preventive health services, such as colonoscopy screening for colon cancer, Pap
smears and mammograms for women, well-child visits, and flu shots for all
children and adults.
In 2011 and 2012, 71 million Americans with
private health insurance gained preventive service coverage with no cost-sharing,
including 1,406,000 in Arizona. And
for policies renewing on or after August 1, 2012, women can now get coverage
without cost-sharing of even more preventive services they need.
Approximately 47 million women, including 916,996 in Arizonawill now have guaranteed access to additional preventive
services without cost-sharing.
The health care law increases the
funding available to community health centers nationwide. In Arizona, 17 health centers operate 139 sites, providing preventive and primary
health care services to 408,737
people. Health Center grantees in Arizonahave received $67,579,387 under the health care law to
support ongoing health center operations and to establish new health center
sites, expand services, and/or support major capital improvement projects.
Community Health
Centers in
all 50 states have
also received a total of $150 million in federal grants to help enroll
uninsured Americans in the Health Insurance Marketplace, including $1,435,991 awarded to Arizona health centers. With these funds, Arizona health centers expect to hire 30 additional workers, who will assist 40,731Arizonans
with enrollment into affordable health insurance coverage.
As a result of historic investments through the health care
law and the Recovery Act, the numbers of clinicians in the National Health
Service Corps are at all-time highs with nearly 10,000 Corps clinicians
providing care to more than 10.4 million people who live in rural, urban, and
frontier communities. The National
Health Service Corps repays educational loans and provides scholarships to
primary care physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants,
behavioral health providers, and other primary care providers who practice in
areas of the country that have too few health care professionals to serve the
people who live there. As of September
30, 2012, there were 274 Corps
clinicians providing primary care services in Arizona, compared to 103 in 2008.
As of
March 2012, Arizona had
received $9,400,000 in
grants from the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the health care
law. This new fund was created to support effective policies inArizona, its communities, and nationwide so that all
Americans can lead longer, more productive lives.
In
Arizona, people
with Medicare saved nearly $123 million
on prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act. In 2012 alone, 65,267 individuals in Arizona saved over $45
million, or an average of $689 per
beneficiary. In 2012, people with Medicare
in the “donut hole” received a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs
and 14 percent discount on generic drugs.
And thanks to the health care law, coverage for both brand name and
generic drugs will continue to increase over time until the coverage gap is
closed. Nationally, over 6.6 million
people with Medicare have saved over $7 billion on drugs since the law’s
enactment. That’s an average savings of
$1,061 per beneficiary. In addition, the
average premium for a basic prescription drug plan in 2014 is projected to
remain stable for the fourth year in a row, at an estimated $31 per month.
With no deductibles or co-pays, cost is no longer a barrier
for seniors and people with disabilities who want to stay healthy by detecting
and treating health problems early. In 2012 alone, an estimated 34.1 million
people benefited from Medicare’s coverage of preventive services with no
cost-sharing. In Arizona, 434,397 individuals with traditional Medicare used one or more free
preventive service in 2012.
The health care law extends the
life of the Medicare Trust Fund by ten years. From 2010 to 2012, Medicare
spending per beneficiary grew at 1.7 percent annually,
substantially more slowly than the per capita rate of growth in the
economy. And the health care
law helps stop fraud with tougher screening procedures, stronger
penalties, and new technology. Over the last four years, the administration’s
fraud enforcement efforts have recovered $14.9 billion from
fraudsters. For every dollar spent on health care-related fraud and abuse
activities in the last three years the administration has returned $7.90.
To hear stories about how the Affordable Care Act is
helping people across the country visit: www.whathasobamacaredoneformelately.tumblr.com
