The year 2011 has brought many changes to health insurance. Most, if not all of it, can be attributed to portions of the Affordable Care Act. There are still plenty of things about the American health care system that need to be improved. Even so, 2011 was definitely a year that brought many improvements to health insurance.
This year, the Affordable Care Act brought Americans health reform laws that improved people’s ability to find health insurance coverage. It also improved health insurance by limiting some of the things that insurers can do, and changing how they do other things.
2011 was the very first year that college graduates could be covered under their parent’s health insurance plans. This is because of a law that was passed in 2010 that required health insurers to cover people who were between the ages of 19 and 26 under their parent’s health plan.
2011 was the first year where new graduates would not have to seek out a job based mostly upon whether or not it included health insurance benefits. This is the first group of graduates who could look for a job that relates to the degree they just earned, instead of settling for one that they have to take in order to be able to afford health care.
2011 was when the rules regarding the medical loss ratio were put into affect. This requires all health insurance companies to spend at least 80% of the money that they take in from premium payments on medical care, and things that actually improve the health of their customers.
Insurers are not allowed to include employee’s salaries, brokers commissions, or administrative costs into that ratio. This is good for consumers, because it means that the money you spend on health insurance is going to go towards things that actually are medical care. It isn’t going directly into the CEO’s bank account.
In 2011, additions were made to what was officially considered to be “preventative care”. All health insurance companies are required to provide everything that has been defined as “preventative care” for free to their customers. This means that the customer doesn’t have to pay a co-pay, deductible, or co-insurance in order to receive this care. It is to be provided for free.
In August of 2011, the federal government many forms of women’s health care into the “preventative care” category. This includes: well woman visits, HPV testing, screening for gestational diabetes, counseling for sexually transmitted diseases, counseling and screening for HIV, and all contraceptive methods that have been approved by the FDA. This will be given to women covered by health insurance starting in August of 2012.
Image by Jennifer Morrow on Flickr