How the Health Care Bill Could Affect You

Now that health care reform is finally done, what is actually going to happen and when?

To start, Americans will now see some immediate changes. But other changes, including mandated coverage for all U.S. residents, wouldn't take effect until several years later.

The following information have been reported on CNN by Danielle Dellorto, Ed Hornick and Alan Silverleib.

What would happen right away.

1) NO MORE ANNUAL OR LIFETIME CAPS - If you by a policy, a health care company will not be able to place a lifetime -- or annual -- cap on how much it will cover. This would be especially important for those diagnosed with serious illnesses, such as cancer, who face steep medical bills.

2) HELP FOR THE UNINSURED WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS - There would be $5 billion set aside to provide temporary coverage to uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions. The money would help those people until the new health care exchanges are put into effect in 2014.

3) COVERAGE FOR OLDER CHILDREN - Insurers would be required to provide coverage options for non-dependent children up to age 26. This would help recent graduates as well as young adults who are between jobs and uninsured.

4) DRUG DISCOUNT FOR SENIORS - Americans who fall into the Medicare Part D Drug Benefit coverage gap, also known as the "doughnut hole," would receive $250 to help pay for prescriptions. The coverage gap would be expected to narrow in 2011 as drug manufacturers discount brand-name drugs by 50 percent, and it would be expected to close in 2020 as all drugs are discounted by 75 percent.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN 2014

1) HEALTH INSURANCES EXCHANGES - Health insurance exchanges would be created to make it easier for small businesses, the self-employed and the unemployed to pool resources and buy less expensive coverage.

Once the exchanges open, insurers will no longer be able to turn away people with pre-existing conditions or change them more.

2) MANDATED COVERAGE - Individuals would be required to buy coverage in 2014 or face a fine of $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. This fine would increase in 2015 to $325 or 2 percent of income, and in 2016 it would rise to $695 or 2.5 percent of income.

The Plan, however, includes a hardship exemption for poorer Americans, and subsidies would be provided to families of four making up to $88,000 annually, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level.

3) MEDICAID EXPANSION - Medicaid would be expanded to include more Americans, including childless adults living near poverty.

4) TAX BREAK FOR FAMILIES - Tax credits would be provided to families to help offset the costs of health care premiums. The amount of tax credits would be bases on annual household income.
 
What does the overhaul in health care affect premiums on health insurance?
 
1) If you acquire your insurnace through your job, your premiums will stay the same.
 
2) If you buy insurance on your own and make over 88K or more, your insurance costs will go up.
 
3) If you make less than $88,000 or less, and you buy it on your own, your premiums will go down.
 
4) Community health centers will be created and at least 20 million more people will be able to see a doctor right away, a far cry that presently exists where people have to wait up to a week to see a doctor. 
 
By 2014, you will be required to buy health insurance or take a penalty.

 By 2014, 95 percent of the people in America will have health insurance.

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New BluePrint proposed by the Obama administration on Health Care

Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration raised the stakes in the health care debate Monday, releasing a new blueprint that seeks to bridge the gap between measures passed by the Senate and House of Representatives last year.If enacted, the president's sweeping compromise plan would constitute the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid more than four decades ago. The White House said it would extend coverage to 31 million Americans.
Among other things, the White House said it would expand Medicare prescription drug coverage, increase federal subsidies to help people buy insurance and give the federal government new authority to block excessive rate hikes by health insurance companies.It increases the threshold -- relative to the Senate bill -- under which a tax on high-end health insurance plans would kick in.As with both the House and Senate plans, it includes significant reductions in Medicare spending in part through changes in payments made under the Medicare Advantage program.
President Obama's plan does not include a government-run public health insurance option, an idea strongly backed by liberal Democrats but fiercely opposed by both Republicans and key Democratic moderates.
It also eliminates a deeply unpopular provision in the Senate bill worked in by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, that would exempt his Midwestern state from paying increased Medicaid expenses.
Administration officials said Obama's measure would cut the deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years. They estimate the total cost of the bill to be $950 billion in the next decade.The Senate bill would cost an estimated $871 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, while the more expansive House plan has been estimated to cost more than $1 trillion.
The release of Obama's plan sets the stage for a critical televised health care summit Thursday with top congressional Republicans. The White House is trying to pressure GOP leaders to present a detailed alternative proposal in advance of the meeting.
"We view this as the opening bid for the health meeting" on Thursday, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told reporters. "We took our best shot at bridging the differences" between the House and Senate bills. "It is our hope the Republicans will come together around [their] plan and post it online" before the meeting.
President's health care blueprint
Pfeiffer said Obama will come to Thursday's meeting "with an open mind." The president's willing to back decent Republican ideas if the two sides can have an "honest, open, substantive discussion" in which "both parties can get off their talking points," he said.
GOP leaders have indicated they will attend the meeting but have urged Democrats to scrap the Senate and House bills completely.They characterized Obama's proposal Monday as setting the stage for a meeting that will amount to little more than political posturing.
"The president has crippled the credibility of this week's summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.  "This new Democrats-only backroom deal doubles down on the same failed approach that will drive up premiums, destroy jobs, raise taxes and slash Medicare benefits. This week's summit clearly has all the makings of a Democratic infomercial."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, released a statement calling the plan "disappointing that Democrats in Washington either aren't listening or are completely ignoring what Americans across the country have been saying."
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the GOP criticisms, arguing that Republican leaders had asked for this week's meeting for months. "If they're not the party of no, Thursday's the perfect venue to be the party of yes," Gibbs said.
Highlights of Obama's proposal
Under Obama's plan:

• The health and human services secretary would work with a seven-member board of doctors, economists and consumer and insurance representatives to review premium hikes. This Health Insurance Rate Authority would provide an annual report to recommend to states whether certain rate increases should be approved, although the secretary could overrule state insurance regulators.
• New health insurance subsidies would be provided to families of four making up to $88,000 annually, or 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Compared with the Senate bill, Obama's proposal lowers premiums for families making between $44,000 and $66,000, according to the White House. Compared with the House legislation, it lowers premiums for families making between $55,000 and $88,000.
• The Medicare prescription drug "doughnut hole" would be closed by 2020. Under current law, Medicare stops covering drug costs after a plan and beneficiary have spent more than $2,830 on prescription drugs. It starts paying again after an individual's out-of-pocket expenses exceed $4,550.
• A 40 percent tax would be imposed on insurance companies providing so-called "Cadillac" health plans valued at more than $27,000 for families. The tax would kick in starting in 2018 for all plans. In contrast, the Senate bill would apply the tax to plans valued at more than $23,000 for families. The House bill does not include the tax, which labor unions vehemently oppose.
• The federal government would assist states by picking up 100 percent of the costs of expanded Medicaid coverage through 2017. The federal government would cover 95 percent of costs for 2018 and 2019, and 90 percent in the following years.
• Health insurance exchanges would be created to make it easier for small businesses, the self-employed and unemployed to pool resources and purchase less expensive coverage.
• Total out-of-pocket expenses would be limited, and insurance companies would be prevented from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Insurers would be barred from charging higher premiums based on a person's gender or medical history.
• Individuals under Obama's plan would be required to purchase coverage or face a fine of up to $695 or 2.5 percent of income starting in 2016, whichever is greater. The House bill, in contrast, would have imposed a fine of up to 2.5 percent of an individual's income. The Senate plan would have required a person to buy coverage or face a fine of up to $750 or 2 percent of his or her income. All three plans include a hardship exemption for poorer Americans.
• Companies with more than 50 employees under Obama's plan would be required to pay a fee of $2,000 per worker if the company does not provide coverage and any of that company's workers receives federal health care subsidies. The first 30 workers would be subtracted from the payment calculation. As with the individual requirement, this represents a compromise between the House and Senate plans.
• Some $40 billion in tax credits would be established for small businesses to help them provide health care options for their employees.
• States could choose whether to ban abortion coverage in plans offered in the health insurance exchanges. Individuals purchasing plans through the exchanges would have to pay for abortion coverage out of their own funds. The White House is following the Senate's lead. The stricter House version banned abortion coverage in private policies available in the exchange to people receiving federal subsidies.
• Illegal immigrants would not be allowed to buy health insurance in the health insurance exchanges. They would be exempted from the individual insurance mandate. As with abortion, the White House is adopting the Senate's language.

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Reflections of the Country with President Barack Obama in 2009

Less than a week to go, and you can only help but reflect on how this year is ending and why things happened the way they have for the President after just one year in office.
How many people are just plain tired of hearing about this health care thing? President Obama during his run for office stated that tackling the health care issue was one of his immediate goals as President, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that he approached it the way that he did.  I must admit that it is important to most Americans, but enough is enough. Finally, a joint vote that would require just a simple majority vote in January, and the whole health care thing will be put to rest. Amen brother!!!!!
This upcoming vote most likely is one of the most scary votes that President Obama has to witness. His success and future as President kind of rides on this vote. But, it would basically take the members in his own party to defeat it, since the Democrats have more seated senators than the Republicans.
It has been a long hard fought race, very similar in nature to his Presidential run, but if the vote is in his favor, the President will gain another wind to continue to repeal the workings of the prior Republican governments before him. After the Health care vote, then would be the time for him to try and mend fences again to try and muster the American people again to his favor. Now only if people would only gain jobs, and the markets started to boom again. He would fulfill previously made promises to the U.S. people. The Republicans will continue to make claim that the stock markets were going to bounce back anyway, always negating any credit deserved of to the President. On the other hand, the Democrats will take full credit for the successes of President Obama.
To summarize my view on the Congress this year, I'm not so sure that I'd agree with the fact that the Democrats should take credit. Actually, I believe that both houses of Congress performed a terrible job for President Obama. One delay after another in both the House and the Senate for just about everything that went through the Senators chambers. At the end, things seem to turn out in President Obama's favor, but what is it going to take to get the Senators to act on what is right instead of just always voting towards party lines and their own party's own point of view.
Many people believe that this country is doomed, and they say so for all kinds of reasons. The Republicans sincerely believe that President Obama is bankrupting the country. They forget that when President Bush took office for his first term, this country was in the 'green' and was not in debt, thanks to President Bill Clinton, a Democrat. But what happened as soon as Bush became President. Yes, the outcome of 911 could have been predicted and even prevented if President Bush's Congress, FBI and Secret Service performed as they should. There is tons of proof that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the CIA knew of the terrorist threats to the United States, but President Bush was not advised as he should have been, and the inevitable happened, unfortunately for the lives of thousands of Americans in New York City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania on that fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001.
President Obama now happens to be the man chosen by this country to put the pieces back together, and he is doing it his way. He wasn't the person in-charge when this country was attacked, George Bush was. He wasn't the person in charge when Iraq was invaded, George Bush was. He wasn't the person in charge when thousands of Americans started loosing their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, George Bush was. He wasn't the person who did absolutely nothing to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, George Bush was. He wasn't the person in charge when the country experienced one of the worst economic collapses since the depression, George Bush was. So where was George Bush all this time? Besides fighting the terrorists in Iraq and almost forgetting about the Al-Queda home of Afghanistan, President Bush spend allot of his time in retreat at Camp David, and what do you guess he was doing so much of his time.. How about reading books!?$#!?#@$! That my friends, is a known fact!!!!
The last thing President Obama wanted to become was a war President. Unfortunately for him, he inherited that title from the previous president, thanks to the one and only George Bush. Now for a man like Bush to have acquired so much 'bad luck' if that's what you want to call it, you can only wonder how he can live with himself. But now, just like the health care issue, it's time to put George Bush to bed too. Regardless of who you voted for in 2008, Barack Obama is our President, and will be for at least another 3 years. After all that he's done already, he would be the first to tell you that he's just getting started. He must be doing things right.. How many war Presidents have secured the Nobel Peace Prize. Zero, zilch, nota... Not a single war President has. That's because no other President in recent history has tried to bring together so many nations with the common theme of peace amongst everyone. He truly has no boundaries when it comes to promoting peace. He speaks to leaders that the Republican presidents would never utter a word too. How else can you break the barrier between people of nations who kind of despise each other. So far, President Obama has displayed the correct decisions, whether people agree with him or not. Time will tell if his tenure as President was a good one.

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Heath Care and Beyond for President Obama

Written by the Editor of the 'Obama in the White House Blog' James


The last president to try and draft his own health care bill was President Clinton in the early 90's. Clinton was unsuccessful.  But after months of watching the present legislation setting in Congress take so much heat, with so many pros and cons depending on who you are, which party you are affiliated with and so on, now President Obama may draft his own White House bill.

Is this a clever tactic or a stupid one? If you think that it may be stupid, just because a prior President couldn't get it done, you may not be underestimating this most modern president, who drags with him the skills and savvy to get things done. All this time for the last several months, President Obama has been testing the waters, and taking the heat in doing so. His poll numbers have been dropping, but what will the pundits say if he drafts his own bill and it passes, something that no previous President could get done. He is a smart man indeed, allowing the Republicans and 'Blue-Dog' Democrats all the time in the world to hang themselves to give President Obama all the clues he may need to get a bill drafted that both groups would like. Now that is a pretty clever move. Of course, if his bill also fails, then the critics will have a great time criticizing the new President, and it most definitely would be Obama's biggest defeat since attaining office. It is critical, because if a bill does not pass by 2010 as he promised in his Presidential campaign, then he most likely can drop so far down in the polls, that he would not be able to recover by the 2012 elections. At the present time, the White House says that no such bill has been written, but you can bet your paycheck that President Obama has been 'burning the midnight oil' trying to figure out a way to get it done.

He has become one of the most criticized Presidents in modern history. Why? Because he is not afraid to put 'his cards on the table' and fight for what he believes in. The Republicans will naturally wish that he fails, because that would be their best way to get their 'foot in the door' to begin a possible successful campaign to regain the White House as early as 2012. But if President Obama 'plays his cards right' then he most likely will win re-election in 2012.

But not so fast. Even a win with health care, President Obama still has a tuff road ahead. The war in Afghanistan has become another very critical point for his re-election. Somehow, he must do what is needed to get things done, and get the troops home from Afghanistan as soon as possible. Instead, at the moment he appears to be sending more and more troops to Afghanistan to fight Al-Quada and the terrorists, and also an attempt to root out Osama bin Laden. That would be President Obama's big win of his first term in Office. If he captured Osama bin Laden, then he would have done something that the prior administration didn't do. The amazing thing is with all he has done on the domestic front, he may just have a good chance to be called a war President for his first term in office, and a peace-time President who was strong on the domestic front to actually do good for the American people.

Criticizing past American Presidents like George Bush in my mind doesn't even warrant a mention any longer, as the thought of the workings of President Bush while he layed out disaster for his eight years in office totally upsets me. We can learn from the past, and I think that this most modern President can handle the heat, the trying times, the critics, and has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that he 'IS' the leader of the free world.

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March 5, 2009, 2:02 pm

White House Health Care Summit

By The New York Times

Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama spoke at a White House conference on health care.

President Obama said on Thursday that though “special interests” and “industry lobbying” had blocked improvements in the health care system for decades, he vowed to end the stalemate this year and ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care.
“Those who seek to block any reform at any cost will not prevail this time around,” Mr. Obama said in opening a White House conference, where he promised to reduce health costs and expand coverage.
The conference is drawing more than 150 participants, including members of Congress and leaders of labor unions, business groups, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and consumer organizations.
Robert Pear has more on the conference here.
The White House is carrying live video of the forum’s various sessions today. You can follow the action here.

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Understanding Your Needs and that of Others - Awareness of Society Today

Prioritizing has always been an important factor in my work at IBM. Usually as there will be for Barack Obama as President, my job requires the ability to be able to multi-task, sometimes requiring the help of others to make sure the tasks get done on time. But the first thing you must understand is where you need to begin. In the economy today, I find it especially important and necessary that people realize that the situation is so drastic, that it is truly impossible to accomplish some of our goals alone. I need help. Most middle-class people like myself need help. This country needs help. Admitting that you are in need of help sometimes is hard to do because we are proud people. In my job, I find doing things by 'status quo' is not always the best way. Change is needed and welcome at IBM, just like 'change' will come to this country because of our President-Elect Barack Obama. He seems to know how to prioritize and is not afraid to stick his neck out stating his economic plan even before he leaves office. I look forward towards listening to his speech later today on his economic plan. Even though he is still a President-Elect, he is already hard at work, trying to prioritize the needs of the country and putting the economy at the top of the list. He knows as I know that in an important job such as the Presidency, you may kind of live in a bubble, as you are surrounded by people to help you accomplish your goals and protect you, but at the same time, you cannot look at the world with tunnel vision. You must constantly try and find ways to improve things that require improvement, and in the dawn of a new Presidency, many things need to be accomplished to benefit the people of this country. Ending the war in Iraq is one of those important things, because we need to re-unite the people of this country again by sending home the troops now in harms way serving our country in the countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of their service, these soldiers deserve the best medical care they may need now and in the future and should never worry again on medical premiums. President-Elect Obama wants to provide health care for all, as all Americans deserve this most needed benefit so that all can have a healthier and happy life. I believe that I am more fortunate than so many others as I work for IBM, have a very secure job, and the health benefits that will protect me and my family. But unfortunately, health benefits come with a price tag, a price that seems that the majority of people cannot afford. Everyone needs health care, and it must be affordable. A most unfortunate statistic that too many people have become part of in this modern day are the growing number of the unemployed, and their numbers are growing by staggering numbers every day. These people, now without jobs, cannot afford health insurance, as the premiums are just too high to handle alone. Therefore, Americans now are forced to live without the health coverages they need to protect their families. But now there is 'hope' with Barack and the new incoming administration. Together, we as a people will display to the entire world that we can get out of these ruff times and do it in a responsible fashion. The world economy will grow because of the grass roots leadership that started in Iowa just under 2 years ago when Barack commenced running for office. Working for a first-class company like IBM, I too was hit pretty hard by the economic conditions that we face today. My 401k retirement plan has been taking a beating for at least the last 18 months, and now I know that I must continue to work and not retire early, but with the 'change' at hand with Barack at the helm, I now have the confidence that my savings will grow again, and that this new President will have an everlasting impression on the peoples of the United States and the world. Less than two weeks to go, and a historic inauguration will take place, one that I wish that I could witness. Whether I could be there or not, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

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