Obamacare holds health insurance companies accountable

June 22, 2012

The Virginian-Pilot reports, "More than 375,000 Virginia families can expect to receive rebates averaging $115 from their insurance companies in the next few weeks, federal officials announced Thursday. The rebates are the first to come from a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on medical care and efforts to improve the quality of health care."

Progressive Point: As health care reform continues to take effect, new benefits are being felt by Virginia families. Holding the health care industry accountable means Virginia families get rebates for excessive premiums that weren't spent on health care, ensuring the industry is providing a better value to customers.

Thanks to health care reform, Virginians are seeing a real difference in their lives. We now get the same quality health care choices that Members of Congress have and small businesses get more freedom. Reform means insurance companies can't charge women higher rates than men or deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The new law means you can stay on your parents' insurance until you're 26 and lowers prescription costs for Virginia's seniors. Thanks to Obamacare, more Virginians have access to health care and have taken back control of their health care decisions from insurance company CEOs. And today, holding health insurance companies accountable to us is another huge step forward.

Get the Facts:

• "Nationally, about 12.8 million people who are covered by qualifying plans will benefit from a rebate, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services... In Virginia, 14 insurers will issue rebates totaling $43.1 million, and 687,000 people will benefit, according to federal data." (Virginian-Pilot, June 22, 2012)


• Via the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
  • "The Affordable Care Act has provided insurance to nearly 50,000 Americans who had been locked out of the insurance marketplace because of a pre-existing condition such as asthma, hypertension or diabetes. What's more, by 2014, these protections will be extended to everyone."
  
  
  • The reform has provided 32.5 million seniors with accesss to free preventive care benefits.
  
  
  • Also due to reform, "more than 20 million women receive preventive services, such a mammograms and cervical cancer screenings, without a co-pay, deductible or any other out-of-pocket expenses. And these benefits come with a fair price tag, as the ACA ends the unconscionable discriminatory practices against women that have allowed insurance companies to charge women higher premiums -- even up to 150 percent more -- than men. "
  
  
  • Under the law, benefits have also been extended to 2.5 million young adults under age 26

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