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Posts tagged as “Affordable Care Act”

First Lady Michelle Obama Helps Explain Obamacare Benefits For Parents

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2013

michelle obama obamacare
As the holidays approach, the Obama administration has drummed up its efforts to educate the public on the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Through press calls, a strong push in social media, and other methods, the Health Department has been dedicated in demystifying the the ACA and encouraging the use of the Health Insurance Marketplace. First Lady Michelle Obama (pictured left) adds to this new push by offering a heartfelt editorial for Babble on the importance of the Affordable Care Act for parents.

Late one night about 12 years ago, our baby daughter Sasha woke up sick. When we took her to our pediatrician the next morning, he took one look at her and sent us straight to the emergency room. He was worried that Sasha might have meningitis – and he was right, wrote the First Lady.
But we were lucky. While our finances weren’t exactly in great shape back then – we were still struggling to pay off our student loans and pay down our mortgage – we had health insurance. So during the three long days Sasha spent in the hospital, our only worry was about her health because we knew the bills would be covered. And fortunately, while her care must have been terribly expensive, it didn’t come anywhere near triggering her lifetime insurance caps.

The emphasis of the piece was the Affordable Care Act’s elimination of insurance cap limits set by companies and the now-illegal practice of denying coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. In times past before the historic passing of the bill, families struggled to keep up with expensive premiums as a result of health conditions, such as asthma, cancer, or diabetes.
Additionally, the children of these working families remained on their parents’ coverage but eventually faced the looming specter of aging out. As the First Lady notes in her piece, the Affordable Care Act provides many safeguards against the detrimental insurance practices of the past. Now children can remain on their parents’ coverage until the age of 26.
Pre-existing conditions adding to higher costs are now a thing of the past, and there are no longer cap limits on insurance. Uninsured families can now visit HealthCare.gov and choose from a list of affordable plans; they may even qualify for assistance for the monthly premiums. Read First Lady Michelle Obama’s special op-ed here.
article by D.L. Chandler via newsone.com

Uninsured Blacks Eligible for More Aid under Affordable Care Act

By goodblacknews on December 13, 2013
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, talks with enrollment specialist Jaileene Tavarez, right, and Shaheda Jenkins, center at the Community Health and Social Services Center in Detroit Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, left, talks with enrollment specialist Jaileene Tavarez, right, and Shaheda Jenkins, center at the Community Health and Social Services Center in Detroit Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As President Obama continues a revised campaign to shore up American confidence in the Affordable Care Act, a new report released today points out that six out of 10 uninsured African Americans who are eligible for insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces – 4.2 million people – may also be eligible for federal options and/or financial assistance with healthcare costs.

According to the report from the Department of Health and Human Services, 2.2 million may qualify for either tax credits to help purchase plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace, while the other 2 million may qualify for free to low-cost coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To be eligible for the Health Insurance Marketplace one must be nonelderly and lawfully living in the United States.
Under the law, states can decide whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage to people living on at least 138 percent of the federal poverty line (currently, it’s $15,857 per year for a single person, and $38,047 per year for a family of five). This provision expands the safety net for people who are just above the poverty line, but still unable to afford packages from private companies. The government is required to provide 100 percent of funding for the first three years (phasing down to no less than 90 percent federal funding in subsequent years) to any state that expands Medicaid.
Today, 6.8 million African Americans of all ages are uninsured. Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, and New York are home to the highest populations of uninsured African Americans who are eligible for the ACA’s provisions. Of those, only New York has expanded Medicaid.
If all 50 states expanded Medicaid, 95 percent of uninsured African Americans would be eligible for Medicaid, CHIP, or Marketplace tax credits, including those without dependents in the home who have traditionally been barred from Medicaid. In addition to using the virtual marketplace to compare plans offered by the private companies in their own state, the uninsured also have the option to become insured through Medicaid, insure their children through CHIP, or use federal tax credits to mitigate the cost of a private plan from the marketplace.
Currently, 26 states have done so, and according to the report, Medicaid currently covers 60 percent of eligible uninsured African Americans. However, an additional 2.2 million eligible uninsured African American adults with family incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level live in states that are not expanding Medicaid. Twice as many uninsured African Americans live at the 138 percent FPL threshold, but only 1.5 million live in Medicaid expansion states. That leaves nearly 3 million people stuck between having too much income to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private plans in the marketplace without assistance.

Surprise! Obamacare Now Projected To Cost Hundreds Of Billions Less Than Expected

By goodblacknews on December 3, 2013
We Love ObamacareAmidst the dark skies of the Healthcare.gov launch, some daylight may finally be emerging with respect to one of the critical goals of the Affordable Care Act—bending the cost curve of America’s expensive healthcare system.

According to a New York Times report out Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office has quietly removed hundreds of billions of dollars from the projected costs of Obamacare, primarily the result of an anticipated decrease in the federal government’s contribution to the Medicaid expansion program along with the projected cost of the subsidy payments to those buying private insurance policies on the healthcare exchanges.
Why the good news?
The more favorable projections are the direct result of the slowing trend in the growth of healthcare spending over the past five years leading to a slowdown in rising costs. While, ten years ago, per-capita spending on healthcare had been growing by an average annual rate of 5 percent, that number was dramatically cut to 1.8 percent during the 2007-2010 period and reduced even further to 1.3 percent in the years following 2010.
Do we have Obamacare to thank for this highly successful “bending” of the cost curve? Naturally, the answer depends upon who you ask as there simply is no definitive way of knowing—yet.
While most economist believe that the lion’s share of the reduction is due to the sluggish economy—making Americans far more careful when it comes to making decisions regarding when or if to spend money on medical care—others believe that some of the plans built into the ACA designed to get people to spend less may actually be working.
Among Obamacare inventions that do appear to be paying off in lower healthcare costs is the government’s refusal to pay hospitals more when patients are re-admitted within 30 days of their initial discharge. Additionally, new plan designs engineered to reward providers for quality of care rather than for quantity of care may well be paying off in terms of lowering the overall cost of care.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation—widely regarded as an honest, non-partisan broker when it comes to healthcare issues and analysis—the declining increases in the cost of healthcare is 75 percent the result of economic factors and 25 percent a benefit of the cost cutting measures in the ACA that do, in fact, appear to be working.

White House OKs Limited Waiver On Health Penalty

By goodblacknews on October 29, 2013

Obama Health Care Website Problems
President Barack Obama speaks during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House on the initial rollout of the health care overhaul on Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) — With website woes ongoing, the Obama administration Monday granted a six-week extension until March 31 for Americans to sign up for coverage next year and avoid new tax penalties under the president’s health care overhaul law.  The move had been expected since White House spokesman Jay Carney promised quick action last week to resolve a “disconnect” in the implementation of the law.  It comes as technical problems continue to trouble the website designed as the main enrollment portal for people who don’t get health care at work.
As a consequence, Republican lawmakers, and some Democrats as well, are calling for a one-year delay in the penalties most Americans will face starting next year if they remain uninsured. Monday’s action by the administration stops well short of that, and amounts only to a limited adjustment.  Under the latest policy change, people who sign up by the end of open enrollment season March 31 will not face a penalty. That means procrastinators get a grace period.
Previously you had to sign up by the middle of February, guaranteeing that your coverage would take effect March 1, in order to avoid fines for being uninsured.  The extension – granted for 2014 only – addresses confusion that was created when the administration set the first open enrollment period under the law from Oct. 1-March 31.  The problem was that health insurance coverage typically starts on the first day of a given month, and it takes up to 15 days to process applications. So somebody signing up March 16 – well within the open enrollment period – wouldn’t get coverage until April 1, thereby risking a penalty for being uninsured part of the year.

President Obama Helps Catch Fainting Woman During White House Speech on Obamacare (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on October 21, 2013

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLJe0JGN4M&w=420&h=315]
GOOD CATCH MR. PRESIDENT! Obama Catches Fainting Woman During White House Speech! (Video)
During a speech this morning by President Barack Obama on Obamacare, a woman standing directly behind the president began to wobble back and forth as if she was about to faint.  Luckily, Obama realized there was something going on behind him and immediately turned around to catch the woman, making sure she remained steady on her feet.
Good catch Mr. President!  Apparently the woman was attending the speech as a guest who was a beneficiary of the Affordable Care Act.

“I got you. You’re OK,” the President said.  “This is what happens when I talk too long,” the president said after helping her get escorted off the stage.

article by aattp.org

Congress Votes To End Funding, Debt Standoff

By goodblacknews on October 16, 2013

Barak Obama-United States-Politics
WASHINGTON — The government shutdown is dead. Obamacare is alive.
The Senate voted 81 to 18 Wednesday night to reopen the federal government and raise the nation’s borrowing limit, hours before the Treasury Department faced the possibility of being unable to pay all of America’s bills for the first time in modern history.  The House followed suit, voting 285-144, to end the latest damaging battle of divided government in a polarized Congress.
President Barack Obama said he would reopen the government immediately to “lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease” that settled on the nation and start fixing the damage.  “There is a lot of work ahead of us, including our need to earn back the trust of the American people that has been lost over the last few weeks,” Obama said in a brief speech at the White House.
The standoff began over the summer, when tea party Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), demanded that the House of Representatives lock government funding in a chokehold unless Democrats and Obama defunded the Affordable Care 
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said no, at first. But but he later gave in,ignoring the advice of other Republicans, from Mitt Romney to John McCain (Ariz.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.).  Democrats opted for defend over defund, with Obama declaring he would not negotiate over his signature law, the budget or the debt while Republicans were holding hostages.

Celebrities Show Their Support For Obamacare With #GetCovered

By goodblacknews on October 3, 2013

Kerri Washington #Get CoveredCelebrities are taking to social media outlets to show their support for the new “Obamacare” law in a big way. Using the #Get Covered hashtag, they are trying to help educate the public on how they can begin to sign up for health care.  
Many of the newly eligible citizens that will be signing up will in fact be getting health care insurance for the very first time so this is really cool to see.  Singer John Legend tweeted:

“F the shutdown. The Health Insurance Marketplace is now open in every state. Don’t wait another day to #GetCovered!”

Pearl Jam tweeted:

“If you want to make sense of the whole healthcare thing, or just want to #GetCovered, check out http://www.healthcare.gov #KnowYourOptions,”

Some celebrities are taking photos of themselves with the #Get Covered hashtag and posting them like the ones below (actress Kerry Washington is pictured above). 
Get Covered Collage
Funny or Die created a “Scandal” spoof called Scandalous with Jennifer Hudson to get people information about the new ACA (Obamacare) program and how to sign up for it. Click here to see that video.)
According to Huffington Post, comedian John Hodgman and actress Martha Plimpton used their Twitter streams as Obamacare forums. Plimpton spent time retweeting messages from her followers saying what they like about the law, while Hodgman’s stream included young adults tweeting about health problems they had encountered.
Tweeted Hodgman:

“Young people: sign up for healthcare. Take it from me–YOU ARE NOT IMMORTAL,”

 It’s great to know that some people embrace their platforms and try to do good things with them. Let us not forget celebrities are members of society too! They do care about the world they live in just the same as anyone else does. They do have a voice.
article by Skyyhook via theurbandaily.com

What the Affordable Care Act Provides for Breast Cancer Treatment

By goodblacknews on October 3, 2013
TG_BREASTCANCER_070809_mezzn.jpg

Women won’t pay higher health bills simply for being women, and they will be able to get the medical care they need, particularly for breast cancer, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a leading women’s advocate says.  “The Affordable Care Act will help us realize the promise of access for all,” said Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative in Washington, D.C., which was founded 30 years ago as the National Black Women’s Health Project.
Open enrollment began this week under the ACA. Uninsured and underinsured Americans will gain greater access to a medical home with preventive care that can reduce the risk of a host of conditions including breast cancer, the second leading cause of death among women.  “We know that prevention works, and mammogram screening is an essential health-care benefit,” said Hoytt, adding that Congressional efforts to stall or kill the ACA as part of a federal shutdown are “unconscionable.”
Black women are number two behind white women for developing breast cancer, but the gap is narrowing, according to a new study released this week for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They are the only group of women to show increases in breast cancer — up 0.2 percent each year between 2006 and 2010 — and they also have the highest death rate. The American Cancer Society published the study, “Breast Cancer Statistics, 2013,” in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and in aconsumer version.
Under the new healthcare law, women who are 40 and older are entitled to coverage for mammograms. Those who have a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer can also receive free counseling and testing for mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Women with mutations are five times more likely to develop breast cancer — a fact highlighted by actress Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy earlier this year.
Women facing genetic tests ranging up to $4,000 and other costs associated with breast cancer won’t have to worry about annual or lifetime spending limits, beginning in 2014.  “You can now be insured with pre-existing conditions,” Hoytt notes. “You do not have to be afraid of being dropped from your insurance.”

Obama Administration Starts to Implement "Obamacare"

By goodblacknews on May 8, 2013

Obama To Black College And Universities: 'You've Got A Partner In Me'The Obama administration is ramping up its plans to implement the so-called Obamacare health care law, with speeches from the president, new aides tasked with selling the law to the public and a broad push to get people to enroll for health insurance all coming in the next several months.
To lay the groundwork for the broader public, top administration officials are holding briefings with key members of the press and stakeholders. Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett recently met with more than 100 African-American leaders from across the country to talk about the law. President Obama is increasingly mentioning Obamacare in his speeches.
The White House has hired a special communications adviser, veteran Democratic strategist Tara McGuinness, to help rebut criticism of the law from both Republicans and increasingly some Democrats and improve public opinion about the Affordable Care Act.