To successfully implement health reform, states will need to develop information technology (IT) systems that securely provide consumers with answers about their eligibility for public health insurance benefits or tax subsidies, and enhance their ability to enroll in health insurance coverage.
By fully integrating Medicaid with their health insurance exchanges, states can reap numerous cost efficiencies in administration, enrollment strategies, consumer outreach and infrastructure.
A major component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the creation of state-based health insurance exchanges—online marketplaces where consumers and businesses can compare and purchase coverage.
The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment showed that having health insurance profoundly affects an individual's health and well-being.
The individual mandate is an integral but controversial part of the health insurance reforms under the Affordable Care Act.
In 2009, 4.3 million children remained uninsured despite being eligible for health insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), down from 4.7 million in 2008.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will make insurance coverage available to an estimated 30 million additional people, largely through expansions in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Consumer protections and market reforms designed to end certain insurer practices and address barriers to health care coverage, quality and access are central to the Affordable Care Act, which became law on March 23, 2010. Many of these protections already apply. Others will be rolled out by 2014.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 51 million Americans, including 7 million children, are uninsured. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expand health coverage to more than 30 million of these uninsured Americans, but this potential will only be realized through comprehensive and effective implementation of its many coverage-related provisions.
In addition to providing health coverage to more than 30 million previously uninsured Americans, the ACA introduces major changes to the insurance market, beginning in 2014. Insurers will no longer be able to discriminate based on health status or gender, cap benefits or rescind coverage retroactively.
Because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Americans will no longer be denied health coverage because of a preexisting condition and will have access to insurance when they need it most, without lifetime and annual benefit limits.
Read moreMore than three-quarters (77 percent) of the uninsured are in working families.
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