Changes in Health Insurance Going Forward

Changes in Health Insurance Going Forward. The new laws are designed to keep the Medicare system (over 65 or permanently disabled individuals) and also the job-based private insurance system. But of real interest is that the new system is in place to offer affordable health insurance to people or groups of people that was previously excluded due to a variety of reasons such as pre-existing conditions.

Even if you have great insurance today, you might want to learn about the new law as it could affect you and your family in the future.

Here are some of the more important changes:

Insurance companies can no longer just cancel your policy just because you get sick. Yes, it has happened many times in the past. They can also not cancel your coverage if you made an honest mistake on your application. Before, when there was a claim, they scrutinized your original application and if they found one single discrepancy – coverage cancelled. The truth is of course, that insurance companies will fight paying out money. They like to take in money much more!

There is now a ban on lifetime limits. Before, insurance companies set a limit on how long they would cover certain illnesses. Say you got cancer at 55 and lived until you were 80. Some insurance coverages would stop when you turned say 60. Thereby ruining you for the rest of your living years.

The dreaded annual pay-out limits are on the way out as well. It used to be $2 million, now the limit will become illegal. There is one exception, companies can still set some limits on stuff like how many doctor’s visits you can do in a year.

More and better benefits available to you. For example, free preventive care and annual checkups. The point is that the law wants to be more preventive than reactive. It is cheaper to have you go for a checkup every so often than to treat a disease that could have been prevented.

Standard disclosure forms. They must summarize all benefits and coverage and includes any co-payments, deductibles and so forth. If there are any exceptions, they must be detailed out.

Young adults can now stay on their parent’s plan until the age of 26. Even if they don’t live at home.

And, insurers cannot deny insurance because for pre-existing conditions.

Children under 19 with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage by most insurers. Until 2014, however, insurers can charge more for premiums than they charge for someone without such conditions.

 

Changes in Health Insurance Going Forward | www healthcare gov