On Tuesday, August 3rd, Missourians voted and passed Proposition C by a 71% of the vote. This anti-health reform initiative was confusing for a lot of people. It was put on the ballot by politicians and lobbyists to protect insurance companies and to influence elections.  Proposition C posed a very narrow question in a low turnout election.  In addition, the measure has no real effect on our lives or our health insurance status.

We’re focused on moving forward with implementation of the new health reform law that will guarantee that we can get health insurance even if we get sick or lose our jobs.  When fully in place in 2014, health insurance companies will not be able to cap our benefits if we need medical care and  there will be limits on what they can charge us in premiums and deductibles. And this year more than 79,000 Missouri small businesses and non profits are eligible for tax credits to help pay for insurance premiums for workers! 

We’re glad to have the election behind us so we can focus on the real work of educating the community. It’s important for all of us to keep talking about what’s really in the Affordable Care Act.

Looking forward!
We will be celebrating the important reforms that will go into effect next month:

•  Insurance companies will not be allowed to turn children down because they have a pre-existing condition and they must cover the medical care relating to those conditions (this will happen for adults, too in 2014).
•  Insurance companies must allow parents to keep young adults on their insurance policy until the age of 26. The young adult does not have to be a dependent of the parent(s), does not have to live with the parent(s), and may be married.
• Insurance companies will not be allowed to cancel policies when people get sick (rescission) except in cases of fraudulent application.
•  New group health plans cannot charge co-pays and deductibles for preventive care and may not discriminate in favor of higher wage employees.
• The law completely bans lifetime limits and tightly restricts new plans use of annual limits.
• A temporary program to help offset the costs of employers who provide health insurance for retirees between the age of 55-64 begins.

Protect this victory:  If you want to learn more about the immediate effects above, or to get more involved in our health care organizing, please contact health care organizer, Amy Smoucha, amy@mojwj.org or 314-608-3917.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 6th, 2010 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Announcements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.