The Affordable Care Act, found constitutional today by the Supreme Court, is already providing tens of millions of Americans better care and better value for their health care dollars.)
Curbing Insurance Company Abuses
* 105 million Americans no longer face lifetime limits on health benefits; absent the ACA, more than 20,000 people could reach the lifetime limit each year, meaning coverage would stop as they needed it most.
* 17 million children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage.
* 70,000 additional previously uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions now have the security of coverage through the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Program until pre-existing condition discrimination is fully eliminated in 2014.
* 41 million Americans in 2011 were protected by new rules that ensure access to new internal and external appeal rights when private plans deny needed benefits.
* 39 rate increases in 12 states have been deemed unreasonable as a result of new requirements that substantial rate increases be reviewed and revisited if found to be unreasonable.
Putting Money Back into People’s Pockets
* 12.8 million Americans will receive more than $1.1 billion in rebates before August because their insurance company spent too much of their premium dollars on administrative costs or CEO bonuses.
* 5.3 million Americans on Medicare have already saved nearly $4 billion on their prescription drugs, an average of $600 each, on their prescription drugs.
Health Care Insurance for More People
* 6.6 million young adults now remain on their parents’ plan until age 26, including more than 3 million who were previously uninsured.
* The small business health insurance tax credits have already benefited an estimated two million workers who get their insurance from an estimated 360,000 small employers.
* Nearly 19 million retirees will benefit from the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, a temporary $5 billion program that protects private retiree coverage.
* Nearly 500,000 Americans have already received new coverage through Medicaid, as states have taken advantage of new authority under the ACA.
Strengthening Medicare
* The Affordable Care Act strengthens Medicare and extends its solvency by eight years to 2024.
* $10.7 billion has been recovered by cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare all while protecting and improving the benefits seniors have earned.
* Testing of a variety of delivery and payment system reforms is underway in Medicare to ensure a better focus on value and quality.
Improving Health Care
* 86 million Americans have already received free preventive services (e.g., mammograms for women, other cancer screenings, etc.), including more than 32 million Medicare patients who have received free Welcome to Medicare physicals and other preventive benefits.
* Hundreds of millions of dollars have been awarded in various public health grant programs that re-build the nation’s public health infrastructure and capacity or tackle chronic diseases through community-based efforts.
* Hundreds of millions of dollars have been awarded to increase health professional training among primary care physicians, nurses, and other non-physician providers.
