Upcoming Healthcare Reform Updates

There are several upcoming changes that are going to be implemented as part of the Affordable Health Care Act beginning September 23, 2010. These include:

• Extending dependent coverage: Young adults who were usually removed from their parents’ insurance are now permitted to receive coverage under their parents’ insurance until the age of 26, even if the young adult no longer lives with his or her parents, is no longer a student, or is not a dependent on a parent’s tax return.
• Eliminating lifetime limits and restricting use of annual limits: All health insurance companies will be prohibited from imposing lifetime limits on essential benefits, such as hospital stays, and restricting annual limits.
• Eliminating pre-existing conditions exclusions for children: Job-based and new individual health insurance plans won’t be allowed to deny or exclude coverage to any child under age 19 based on a pre-existing condition, including a disability. Starting in 2014, these same plans won’t be able to exclude anyone (children and adults) from coverage or charge a higher premium for a pre-existing condition including a disability.
  

For more information about the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act, please read our statement or visit www.healthcare.gov.