The Latest in Health Reform
It has been almost two years since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. In that time, forty-four states have begun participating in the new premium rate review system where insurers have to justify any double-digit premium increases in insurance. As of now, twenty-eight states are in the process of setting up their own Affordable Insurance Exchanges.
The Affordable Insurance Exchanges are marketplaces where consumers can choose from private health insurance plans to get a plan that fits their health needs. Beginning in 2014, they will offer the same choices that are available to members of Congress. The Exchanges will select plans that are qualified to offer coverage; help you shop and enroll in coverage; and coordinate eligibility for the Exchange and any premium assistance. States have a deadline of January 1, 2013 to have the basics of their Exchanges outlined for approval.
Texas is one of the states that is currently questioning the constitutionality of the new Health Reform Law. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the case this Spring to determine whether or not requiring all Americans to get health insurance is constitutional. That case will determine how the Affordable Care Act is implemented from there.
This can all be repealed based on the upcoming election. My personal recommendation is that Health Reform needs to be repealed and our system needs a complete overhaul. Below is a quote from Donald Trump that will show you what I mean.
"We're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, which purportedly covers at least ten million more people, without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that didn't read it but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a President who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, for which we'll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke!!!" - Donald Trump