People with Disabilities and the Affordable Care Act
The health care law is giving people with disabilities more affordable options for health care and health insurance coverage.
If you're living with a disability or you have a family member who is, you may have had trouble in the past getting health insurance or access to health care for yourself or your family member. Or maybe you had to pay unreasonably high prices for limited care options. The Affordable Care Act expands your choices for health insurance, helps give you more control over your own care, and contains some important benefits that could lower your costs significantly. Starting in September of 2010, job-based and new individual plans won't be able to deny health insurance coverage to a child under the age of 19 because of a pre-existing condition, including a disability. From January, 2014, on, new insurance plans won't be able to discriminate against anyone with a pre-existing condition or disability. New insurance plans won't be able to exclude them from health coverage or charge them more for their care. In September, 2010, insurers will be prohibited from dropping you from your health plan when you get sick just because you may have made a mistake on your insurance application.
If you're under 65 and uninsured, and you have a disability or become disabled, there's another way you may be able to qualify for care thanks to the Affordable Care Act. You may be able to buy insurance through a new transitional high-risk pool for people with pre-existing conditions. In 2014, you'll be able to choose from a variety of plans through a health insurance exchange. Tax credits will be available to help individuals afford the premiums. A person with a disability won't have to choose between working without insurance and leaving the workforce in order to receive Medicaid. If you have health insurance and you're happy with it, you don't need to make any changes. Beginning in September, 2010, your insurer can no longer cancel your insurance because you become ill or have an accident, as long you've paid your premiums and filled out your application honestly. There will be no lifetime limits on the amount an insurer will pay, and annual limits for most plans will be restricted. Your insurance company will have to justify any steep increases in your premiums. The Affordable Care Act helps to reduce your health care costs and gives you more control over you own health care. It contains important new benefits to help reduce the cost of long-term care. In 2012 you may be able to enroll in a voluntary long-term care insurance program, called CLASS. CLASS stands for “Community Living Assistance Services and Supports”. After you pay premiums for five years, if you become disabled, the CLASS program will give you a daily cash benefit to purchase long-term care services and supports at home. (On October 14, 2011, Secretary Sebelius transmitted a report and letter to Congress stating that the Department does not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time. View a copy of the CLASS report. Read about the original CLASS proposal.) Find the information you need to make smart health coverage choices for yourself and your loved ones on this website.
NOTE: The transcript for this program may have been compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.
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