Universal Healthcare Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, contains within it a group of provisions for patient protection called the Patient's Bill of Rights. The government has established a user-friendly website to assist Americans in becoming familiar with the health-care plan and all the benefits available to them under the act.

Patient's Bill of Rights

• The Patient's Bill of RIghts will benefit an estimated 88 million Americans by 2013.

  The provisions contained in the Patient's Bill of Rights went into effect on September 23, 2010. These include prohibiting insurance companies from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions for children under age 19, rescinding or denying coverage based on an unintentional error on an application, arbitrarily rescinding coverage and setting lifetime limits on coverage. The Patient's Bill of Rights also restricts an insurance company's use of annual coverage limits. Moreover, it gives the patient the right to choose her health provider within the network of doctors as well as out-of-network emergency care (including pediatricians and OB-GYNs) without first having to obtain a referral.

Provisions Effective July 2010

• Everyone with a pre-existing condition can enroll in a PCIP as of July 2010.

  As of July 1, 2010, Americans who have been denied insurance due to a pre-existing condition can enroll in a Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). This provision ends in 2014 when no insurance company will be permitted to refuse to provide coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Provisions Effective in September 2010

• The act allows college students to remain on their parents' heath-care plan

  Beginning September 23, 2010, children and young adults under 26 are permitted to be added to or remain on their parents' family policy. Group plans may limit this option on existing plans to adult children who do not have other employment-based coverage. The act also requires insurance companies to cover recommended preventative services, such as mammograms, colonoscopies, prenatal care, new-baby care and immunizations, without requiring the insured to pay out-of-pocket costs. Americans will also have the right to appeal an insurance company's decisions to an independent third party.

Provisions Effective in January 2011

• Preventative care is free for seniors under the act as of January 2011.

  As of January 2011, individual and small group insurers are required to spend a minimum of 80 percent (and large group insurers are required to spend 85 percent) of the money received from premiums directly on health-care costs. If an insurance company fails to meet this minimum requirement, it must refund the policyholders the difference. The goal of this provision is to limit the excessive salaries and bonuses paid to insurance company executives that caused public outcry in the years before the act. Several programs strengthening Medicare also go into effect in 2011, including a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs for seniors and a variety of community-based programs.

Provisions Effective in 2014

• Exchanges with millions of enrollees will keep premium costs down through strength in numbers.

  Fundamental restructuring of the health-care insurance marketplace takes place under the act in 2014. Americans will be able to buy health-care insurance coverage from state-run insurance "exchanges." These exchanges are made up of thousands of companies and individuals who gain purchasing power through the number of members belonging to the exchange, similar to the type of group discounted rates government employees enjoy.