On June 22, 2010, President Obama announced new interim final regulations, the Patient’s Bill of Rights, that include a set of protections that apply to health coverage starting on or after September 23, 2010, six months after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.
The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury collaborated on the Patient’s Bill of Rights – which will help children (and eventually all Americans) with pre-existing conditions gain coverage and keep it, protect all Americans’ choice of doctors, and end lifetime limits on the care consumers may receive. These new protections create an important foundation of patients’ rights in the private health insurance market that puts Americans in charge of their own health.