KVH News Conference Addresses Impact of New Health Reform Law

            Kentucky Voices for Health held an audio news conference on September 20 to address key provisions of the new federal health reform law (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010) that take effect on September 23.

Jodi Mitchell, Executive Director of Kentucky Voices for Health said the new federal health reform law creates an unprecedented opportunity to provide health coverage to the more than 600,000 Kentuckians who are now uninsured. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, signed into law on March 23, 2010, will help Kentuckians - young and old, low and middle-income, working and unemployed - to get and keep affordable health insurance while putting safeguards in place to improve quality and contain costs.

As of Sept 23, health plans are required to allow young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance up to their 26^th birthday.  Ms. Mitchell read a statement from Nick Harper, a student at Bellarmine University, which addressed how the new law will affect young adults:

“As a senior at Bellarmine University and approaching the end of my undergraduate college career, I have increasing concerns about maintaining my health insurance coverage after I finish school because of my health status <diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma>. 

I understand the value of having health coverage and given my current health status, I cannot afford not to have health insurance.  I want to have a healthy lifestyle and insurance coverage helps make that happen.  This new law makes it possible to keep me covered until I am gainfully employed or have the means to purchase health insurance for myself.  It is estimated that approximately 17,000 young adults in Kentucky will benefit from this new requirement.”

Luke Barlowe, KY State Policy Liaison for National Patient Advocate Foundation, noted that as of Sept 23, new health plans will have to cover preventive services such as cancer screenings and tests, with no copayments.  Too many Americans don’t get the preventive health care they need to stay healthy, avoid or delay the onset of disease, lead productive lives, and reduce health care costs. Often because of cost, Americans use preventive services at about half the recommended rate.  Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes often are preventable.

Mr. Barlowe said The Affordable Care Act will help make wellness and prevention services affordable and accessible to you by requiring health plans to cover preventive services and by eliminating cost-sharing. If you or your family enrolls in a new health plan on or after September 23, 2010, then that plan will be required to cover recommended preventive services without charging you a co-pay, co-insurance or deductible.

What Does This Means for Kentuckians?  Depending on your age and health plan type, you may have easier access to such services as:

• Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests
• Many cancer screenings
• Counseling on such topics as quitting smoking, losing weight, eating better, treating depression, and reducing alcohol use
• Routine vaccines for diseases such as measles, polio, or meningitis
• Flu and pneumonia shots
• Counseling, screening and vaccines for healthy pregnancies
• Regular well-baby and well-child visits, from birth to age 21

Mr. Barlowe added that in his work as a patient advocate in Kentucky “not a week goes by that I don’t hear from someone who will benefit from this new law.”

Dr. Keisa Bennett, M.D., a Lexington physician noted that a number of new health insurance rules will go into effect this week that will help patients.  As of September 23, new health insurance plans will be prohibited from:

·         Denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition.

·         Placing lifetime dollar limits on coverage

·         Dropping people from health coverage when they get sick.

Dr. Bennett said these new protections are extremely important because a recent study found that an estimated 920,000 Kentuckians have one or more pre-existing health conditions—almost one in four of our neighbors.  The new law means that insurance companies cannot discriminate against them.  She provided an example of one of her patients who received a cancer diagnosis.  The patient’s insurance plan did the right thing and kept her on the company’s policy, but when she was laid off, she couldn’t get a new insurance policy.  Under the new and current law, she would not need to depend on employer health care and would be able to stay insured and be able to afford care that she needs.

“The new law gives us hope that we can move towards a more rational and fair system of care, that makes sure that people who really need access are not denied care simply because they are poor or have difficulty maintaining employment in a volatile economy,” stated Dr. Bennett.

Ms. Mitchell also noted that Kentucky Voices for Health recently released an issue brief that outlines the provisions of the new law, provides a timeline of what will happen when, gives estimates of the number of Kentuckians who will benefit and provides consumers with additional information resources.  The brief concludes that hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians will benefit from the new law and can be downloaded here.

A recording of today’s call is available at http://www.conferenceplayback.com/stream/46594826/24445901.mp3

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