President Obama highlights health care reform benefits with grateful Americans by his side

[ClarkUSA]

'Just six weeks before midterm elections expected to punish Democrats, the president surrounded himself in a Virginia backyard with people who benefited from the law — a hemophiliac fearful of lifetime coverage limits that will now be eliminated, a senior citizen who got help with her heart medications... He highlighted some new reforms that take effect at the six-month mark Thursday, including new coverage for preventive care and young adults being able to stay on their parents' health care plans until age 26.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart," one woman present, Norma Byrne of Vineland, N.J., told the president, explaining she was benefiting from the law's provisions that are closing the prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare.

Among benefits taking effect this week:

:bluebox: Young adults can remain on their family's health plan until they turn 26.
:redbox: Free immunizations for kids.
:bluebox: Free preventive care, like mammograms and cholesterol screenings.
:redbox: No more lifetime coverage limits, and annual limits start to phase out.
:bluebox: Plans can't cancel coverage for people who get sick.
:redbox:No denial of coverage to kids with pre-existing health conditions.

Most of the big changes, such as the new purchasing pools and requirement for everyone to carry insurance, don't kick in until 2014...'

Read more and see video here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100922/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_health_overhaul

President Obama traveled to a suburban backyard here this morning to listen to stories of patients who have been helped by his health care bill... “I want to see them come and talk to Gail or talk to Dawn,” he said, referring to two of the women present, a cancer patient who joined a high-risk pool to get coverage and a mother whose son is now covered for eye surgery as a result of the new law. “I want them to look you in the eye and say, ‘Sorry, Gail, you can’t buy health insurance,’ or ‘Sorry, little Wes, he’s going to have to be excluded.’”... The hope from inside the West Wing is that the burst of publicity from today’s event will help counter what they call unfair and inaccurate characterizations of the president’s health care overhaul.

“There has been a massive scare campaign over the past year with seniors and others to tell them things that were not true about this law,” said one top Obama official... But White House officials are betting that the politics of health care will start to turn around when people start to reap the benefits of the new provisions. As of Thursday, children can no longer be rejected by insurance companies because of pre-existing conditions, students can stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26 and a Patients Bill of Rights will, among other things, give states the power to review insurance premium increases.

At the backyard event, Mr. Obama planned to discuss the health care legislation with a man who suffers from a chronic condition and was facing huge bills when he ran up against the lifetime caps on coverage put in place by his insurance company. Those caps are no longer an issue for him, White House officials said, since the new law prohibits such lifetime limits.

Before the event, Mr. Obama was to meet with insurance commissioners from 33 states to discuss efforts to use the law’s provisions to strengthen oversight of premiums.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/democrats-grope-for-health-cares-political-payoff/?partner=rss&emc=rss

[dkf]

1. Its only free if doctors, nurses, and techs provide free services.

Otherwise it is still a cost that will be charged through premiums. Basically if you don't use these services and have insurance you are paying for everyone else.