The Supreme Court has officially decided that the Affordable Care Act will stand. This is great news for parents of kids who have the types of special needs that require a lot of expensive medical care. Insurance companies can’t refuse to cover your child because of a pre-existing condition.
The Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama in March of 2010. Today, June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court made its historic decision about the Affordable Care Act. The short version of the decision is that the Affordable Care Act will stand. The protections already provided by it will remain, and lawmakers can work towards making more protections a reality.
This is excellent news for parents who have a child who has a special need. There are many children who have conditions that require several hospital visits, surgeries, assistive devices, and/or expensive prescription medications. This can be difficult, if not impossible, for parents to pay for out of pocket.
Previous to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies often chose to deny coverage for kids who had serious medical conditions, (and also for less life threatening medical issues), because the insurers felt these children were too expensive for them to cover.As of September 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act put a stop to that.
“Under the Affordable Care Act, health plans cannot limit or deny benefits or deny coverage for a child younger than age 19 simply because the child has a “pre-existing condition” – that is, a health problem that developed before the child applied to join the plan.”
This protection made it possible for parents of kids who have special needs to find health insurance coverage for their child. It meant that the parents would be able to get their child the medical care that he or she needed, without having to worry as much about the cost of that care. It meant that if the parents lost the job that connected to the health insurance, they would be able to find health insurance coverage for their child through another insurance company.
The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act means that parents will continue to be able to provide for their child’s health care. This is great news!
Family Voices Executive Director, Sophie Arao-Nguyen, had this to say about the decision:
“We are very pleased the Supreme Court upheld the entire Affordable Care Act. The law is a great step forward in protecting and improving the health of all children, including children and youth with special health care needs and disabilities. Today’s ruling means these vulnerable children will continue to enjoy the critical protections afforded by the law, such as bans on pre-existing condition exclusions, lifetime limits, and annual limits on insurance coverage as of 2014.”
Image by Laura Padgett on Flickr