Simple summaries of the Affordable Care Act – aka Obamacare

A final summary of the major changes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (aka Obamacare):

– Kids can continue to be covered by their parents’ health insurance until they’re 26.

– Insurers cannot impose an unreasonable premium increase without justification (generally anything less than 10% is ok).

– Insurers have to tell customers what they’re spending money on, (instead of just “administrative fee”, they have to be more specific) and those expenditures are required to follow the 80/20 rule:

– No more than 20% can be spent on administrative costs, minimum of 80% must go directly to patient care.

– A new website is made to give people insurance and health information – healthcare.gov

– Any new health plans must provide preventive care (mammograms, colonoscopies, etc.) without requiring any sort of co-pay or charge.

 

 

More from this series:

(David Goldman/AP Photo)

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