NYT editorial: Report Card on Health Care Reform

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Editorial

Report Card on Health Care Reform

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Republican leaders in Congress regularly denounce the 2010 Affordable Care Act and vow to block money to carry it out or even to repeal it. Those political attacks ignore the considerable benefits delivered to millions of people since the law’s enactment three years ago Saturday. The main elements of the law do not kick in until Jan. 1, 2014, when many millions of uninsured people will gain coverage. Yet it has already thrown a lifeline to people at high risk of losing insurance or being uninsured, including young adults and people with chronic health problems, and it has made a start toward reforming the costly, dysfunctional American health care system.

EXPANDING COVERAGE Starting in 2010, all insurers and employers that offer dependent coverage were required to offer coverage to dependent children up to age 26. An estimated 6.6 million people ages 19 through 25 have been able to stay on or join their parents’ plans as result, with more than 3 million previously uninsured young adults getting health insurance. The law requires private health insurers to provide free preventive care, without co-pays or deductibles. Some 71 million Americans have received at least one free preventive service, like a mammogram or a flu shot, and an additional 34 million older Americans got free preventive services in 2012 under Medicare.

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The law appropriated $11 billion over five years to build and operate community health centers, a major factor in increasing the annual number of patients served to 21 million, a rise of 3 million from previous levels. Some $5 billion has been put into a reinsurance program that has encouraged employers to retain coverage for retirees and their families; 19 million people benefited with reduced premiums or cost-sharing.

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BETTER QUALITY OF CARE One of the most promising aspects of the health reform act is its focus on improving quality. The percentage of Medicare patients requiring readmission to the hospital within 30 days of discharge dropped from an average of 19 percent over the past five years to 17.8 percent in the last half of 2012, an improvement due in large part to penalties imposed by Medicare for poor performance and financial incentives paid by Medicare to providers to encourage better coordination of care after a patient leaves the hospital.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/opinion/sunday/report-card-on-health-care-reform.html

Here's a summary of the NYT report:

That includes:

• Some 6.6 million people ages 19 through 25 who have been able to stay on their parents' insurance plans and more than than 3 million young adults getting health insurance.
  
  
• 17 million getting some kind of free preventive service, like flu shots, and 34 million Medicare recipients getting free preventive services in 2012;
  
  
• 17 million children with pre-existing conditions being protected against being uninsured;
  
  
• More than 107,000 adults with pre-existing conditions finally having insurance under the federally run insurance program;
  
  
• 21 million received care from expanded community health centers, 3 million more than previously served;
  
  
• $1.1 billion in rebates, an average of $151 per family paid by insurers that failed to meet the benchmark of 80 to 85 percent of premium revenues on medical claims or quality improvements;
  
  
• Since 2010, more than 6.3 million older or disabled people have saved more than $6.3 billion on prescription drugs;

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/25/1196892/-An-Affordable-Care-Act-report-card-three-years-in

[ProSense]

1. Kick! n/t

[Agony]

2. "17 million getting some kind of free preventive service" It isn't "free" they paid for it...

It is about time that a little health care is happening.

[ProSense]

3. That's "free"

'"17 million getting some kind of free preventive service' It isn't "free" they paid for it...It is about time that a little health care is happening."

...in terms of getting rid of co-pays. Yeah, this is the way it should be.

[ProSense]

4. Kick! n/t