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On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. This puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will roll out over four years and beyond.
Health reform includes several key steps in the next 4 years. Medicaid will be expanded to allow more people at the lowest income levels to qualify for coverage. Employers will be encouraged to offer health insurance. Moderate income Americans who do not qualify for Medicaid will be given credits to purchase private health insurance coverage. The purchase of health insurance will be streamlined through the establishment of the Health Insurance Exchange. The ACA will strengthen consumer protections, impose protections to guard against unreasonable rate increases and require transparency from health insurance companies. The focus of the ACA will be on primary and preventive care. All Americans must purchase health insurance so that everyone pays for the cost of health care.
Substance Abuse and the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) put in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will make health insurance available to many more people, lower health care costs, guarantee more health care choices, and enhance the quality of health care for all Americans.
The ACA includes substance use disorders as one of the 10 essential health benefits. This means that all health insurance sold on Health Insurance Exchanges or provided by Medicaid to certain newly eligible adults starting in 2014 must include services for substance use disorders.
By including these benefits in health insurance packages, more health care providers can offer and be reimbursed for these services, resulting in more individuals having access to treatment. The specific substance abuse services that will be covered are currently being determined by the Department of Health and Human Services, and will take into account evidence on what services allow individuals to get the treatment they need and help them with recovery.
Federal health reform establishes significant nationwide consumer protections in commercial health insurance markets. A number of key consumer health insurance protections already in place in New York have been adopted as a part of federal reform. As a result, New York will go through less transition than many states with respect to these reforms.
What are Health Exchanges?
Under the federal Affordable Care Act, an Exchange will be operating in every state starting in 2014. States have the option to either set up an Exchange themselves or to allow the federal government to set up an Exchange in their state. New York has chosen to set up its own Exchange, called the New York Health Benefit Exchange. On April 12, 2012, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order #42 to establish it within the NYS Department of Health where most New Yorkers will purchase their health care.
Information is being added to this section on the Affordable Care Act come back often. By 2014 it will include nationwide information. |