Milwaukee Professionals Association

Affordable Health Care Act, The Beginning - Let's Make it Work for America

MILWAUKEE (MPA) - In the spirit of citizenship and leadership, Milwaukee Professionals Association LLC continues to raise the banner of All Hands on Deck, WE
Can.  The most recent Pledge and Campaign is around the Affordable Health Care Act (or HR 3962) .  It was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama, March 23, 2010, with full implementation for January 1, 2014.
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Timeline
Whether you get insurance through work, buy it yourself, have a small business, are on Medicare, or don't currently have insurance, the Affordable Care Act gives you control to make your own decisions about your health coverage.

It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today.

This helps 32 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today -- and makes coverage more affordable for many more. Under the plan, 94% of Americans will be insured.

To lower costs, the Affordable Care Act sets up a new competitive private health insurance market -- through state Exchanges -- giving millions of Americans and small businesses access to
affordable coverage and the same choices of insurance that members of Congress will have.

It holds insurance companies accountable by keeping
premiums down and preventing insurance industry abuses and denial of care, and it will end discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions.

And, it puts our budget and economy on a more stable path by
reducing the deficit by more than $100 billion over the next ten years -- and more than $1 trillion over the second decade-- by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse.

FOR
MORE
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This
Year

New Consumer Protections

• No Discrimination Against Children With Pre-Existing
  Conditions. The new law includes new rules to prevent insurance
  companies from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions.
  Effective for health plan years beginning on or after September
  23.
• Prohibits Insurance Companies from Dropping Coverage. In
  the past, insurance companies could search for an error on a customer's
  application or other technical mistake and use this error to stop covering the
  person when he or she got sick. The new law makes this illegal and after media
  reports cited incidents of breast cancer patients losing coverage, insurance
  companies agreed to end this practice immediately. Effective for health plan
  years beginning on or after September 23. Click here
  to learn more.
• Eliminating Lifetime Limits on Insurance Coverage. Under
  the new law, insurance companies will be prohibited from imposing lifetime
  dollar limits on essential benefits, like hospital stays. Effective for
  health plan years beginning on or after September 23.
• Regulating Annual Limits on Insurance Coverage. Under the
  new law, insurance companies' use of annual dollar limits on the amount of
  insurance coverage a patient may receive is sharply restricted. In 2014, the use
  of annual dollar limits on essential benefits like hospital stays will be banned
  for new plans in the individual market and all group plans. Effective for
  health plan years beginning on or after September 23.
• Appealing Insurance Company Decisions. The law provides
  consumers with an easy way to appeal to their insurance company and to an
  outside board if the company denies coverage or a claim. Effective for
  health plan years beginning on or after September 23.
• Information for Consumers Online. The law creates an easy
  to use website where consumers can compare health insurance coverage options and
  pick the plan that works for them. Effective July 1, 2010. Click
  here
  to learn more

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MILWAUKEE
PROFESSIONALS ASSOCIATION will kick off Education/Information
Sharing/Partnership briefings to take away the mystery, calm the fears, empower
the process; and, combat the "misrepresentation" by
fear-mongers.

WEDNESDAY, September 19,
2012
Prince Hall Grand Lodge
600 W. Walnut - Lower
Auditorium
9:30AM - 4:00PM

All Hands on Deck, WE Can - Affordable
Health Care Options

• Insurance options and benefits - individuals, businesses and organizations
• Health Wellness - Intervention and Prevention
• Putting IT in the Hands of Milwaukeean - Health Care Design
• Cost-savings

Stay tuned for updates.