What is Affordable
Healthcare?
For that matter,
what is Obamacare?
There is no such
thing as 'Obamacare' it is a 'figment of the imagination of the Republican
Party'!
The majority of the
country, the Democratic Party, the Poor in this country, the Middle-Class,
Small Business Owners, and President Obama, Care!
This is why, the
Clinton Family tried and was defeated by the Republican Party and President
Obama worked on, without help from congress I might add, The Affordable
Healthcare Act.
The Affordable Care
Act puts consumers back in charge of their health care. Under the law, a new
“Patient’s Bill of Rights” gives the American people the stability and
flexibility they need to make informed choices about their health.
View Key
Features of the Affordable Care Act or read a year-by-year overview of
features.
Coverage
Ends Pre-Existing
Condition Exclusions for Children: Health plans can no longer limit or deny
benefits to children under 19 due to a pre-existing condition.
Keeps Young Adults
Covered: If you are under 26, you may be eligible to be covered under your
parent’s health plan.
Ends Arbitrary
Withdrawals of Insurance Coverage: Insurers can no longer cancel your coverage
just because you made an honest mistake.
Guarantees Your
Right to Appeal: You now have the right to ask that your plan reconsider its
denial of payment.
Costs
Ends Lifetime Limits
on Coverage: Lifetime limits on most benefits are banned for all new health
insurance plans.
Reviews Premium
Increases: Insurance companies must now publicly justify any unreasonable rate
hikes.
Helps You Get the
Most from Your Premium Dollars: Your premium dollars must be spent primarily on
health care – not administrative costs.
Care
Covers Preventive
Care at No Cost to You: You may be eligible for recommended preventive health
services. No copayment.
Protects Your Choice
of Doctors: Choose the primary care doctor you want from your plan’s network.
Removes Insurance
Company Barriers to Emergency Services: You can seek emergency care at a
hospital outside of your health plan’s network.
For More Information
Read the Full Law
Find detailed
technical and regulatory information on the Patient’s Bill of Rights.
Republicans just
took the first step to repeal Obamacare
Congress is poised
to complete its initial step toward dismantling President Barack Obama's health
care law, as Republicans divided over how to replace it face pressure from
Donald Trump for quick action.
By a near party-line
51-48 vote early Thursday, the GOP-run Senate approved a budget that eases the
way for action on subsequent repeal legislation as soon as next month.
The
Republican-controlled House planned to complete the budget on Friday, even amid
misgivings by some GOP lawmakers. Aiming to build momentum, the office of House
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., distributed an email underscoring support for the
measure by the conservative group Heritage Action.
"We must act
quickly to bring relief to the American people," said Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
The president-elect
oozed confidence at a news conference on Wednesday, promising his incoming
administration would soon reveal a plan to both repeal so-called Obamacare and
replace it with legislation to "get health care taken care of in this
country."
"We're going to
do repeal and replace, very complicated stuff," Trump told reporters,
adding that both elements would pass virtually at the same time. That promise,
however, will be almost impossible to fulfill in the complicated web of Congress,
where GOP leaders must navigate complex Senate rules, united Democratic
opposition and substantive policy disagreements among Republicans.
Passage of
Thursday's measure would permit follow-up legislation to escape the threat of a
filibuster by Senate Democrats. Republicans are not close to agreement among
themselves on what any Obamacare replacement would look like, however.
Republicans plan to
get legislation voiding Obama's law and replacing parts of it to Trump by the
end of February, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Wednesday
on "The Hugh Hewitt Show," a conservative radio program. Other Republicans
have said they expect the process to take longer.
The 2010 law
extended health insurance to some 20 million Americans, prevented insurers from
denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and steered billions of dollars to
states for the Medicaid health program for the poor. Republicans fought the
effort tooth and nail and voter opposition to Obamacare helped carry the party
to impressive wins in 2010, 2014 and last year.
Thursday's Senate
procedural vote will set up special budget rules that will allow the repeal
vote to take place with a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, instead of
the 60 votes required to move most legislation.
That means
Republicans, who control 52 seats, can push through repeal legislation without
Democratic cooperation. They're also discussing whether there are some elements
of a replacement bill that could get through at the same time with a simple
majority. But for many elements of a new health care law, Republicans are
likely to need 60 votes and Democratic support, and at this point the two
parties aren't even talking.
Sen. Rand Paul of
Kentucky, unhappy that the measure endorsed huge budget deficits, was the sole
Republican to vote against it.
Increasing numbers
of Republicans have expressed anxiety over obliterating the law without a
replacement to show voters.
Sen. Susan Collins,
R-Maine, said she wants at least to see "a detailed framework" of a
GOP alternative health care plan before voting on repeal. She said Republicans
would risk "people falling through the cracks or causing turmoil in insurance
markets" if lawmakers voided Obama's statute without a replacement in
hand.
Collins was among a
handful of Republicans to occasionally break ranks to support some Democratic
amendments aimed at supporting such things as rural hospitals and a mandate to
cover patients with pre-existing medical conditions. They were all shot down by
majority Republicans anyway.
In the House, many
members of the conservative Freedom Caucus were insisting on first learning
details about what a GOP substitute would look like - or putting some elements
of the replacement measure in the repeal bill.
"We need to be
voting for a replacement plan at the same time that we vote for repeal,"
said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., an influential conservative.
Some more moderate
House Republicans were unhappy, too, including Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., a
leader of GOP centrists in the House Tuesday Group. He said he would oppose the
budget because there was too little information about the replacement, including
whether people receiving expanded Medicaid coverage or health care subsidies
under the existing law would be protected.
"We're loading
a gun here," MacArthur said. "I want to know where it's pointed
before we start the process."