We posted yesterday that Rock the Vote President Heather Smith would join Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in a conversation about the expansion of health care which now allows people to stay on their parents’ health care until the age of 26. Prior to the chat thousands of people emailed or tweeted questions about the expansion to Secretary Sebelius and Heather, this video gives lots of answers to some of the questions asked.
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VIDEO: Health Care Webchat
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
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Jason Bio: Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
Health care webchat Tuesday: get your questions answered by Secretary Sebelius
Monday, May 10th, 2010You may be wondering when the health care law is going to start affecting your life. Wonder no more: some benefits are starting now, like the ability to stay on your parents’ plan until you are 26.
You are invited to join Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Rock the Vote President Heather Smith on Tuesday, May 11th, at 1:00 p.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. PDT) for a live webchat. They’ll discuss what’s in the health care bill for young adults and how to access those benefits now.
Join the webchat on Tuesday at 1:00 P.M EDT at www.hhs.gov/live.
Please send your questions to healthreform@hhs.gov and they’ll answer as many as possible during the webchat. They’ll also take questions live from twitter using handle @HHSGOV.
Is your family’s insurance company participating? What does it mean for you and your family? What about when I graduate from college? How do we sign up?
Together, we fought for health care reform that was a good deal for young people. That includes the provision allowing young people to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are 26. This law officially goes into effect in September 2010, but Secretary Sebelius – with the support of Rock the Vote and youth organizations from across the country – has asked major health insurance providers to close the gap now and open enrollment to those 21-26 who wish to stay on their parents’ insurance.
Find out more during the chat!
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Thomas Bates Bio: Thomas is Rock the Vote's Vice President of Civic Engagement. @BatesThomas Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
Head start on dependent care coverage
Monday, April 19th, 2010Looks like a signature piece of health care reform – one that Rock the Vote fought hard for on behalf of young people – is getting a jump-start even before the law goes into effect.
Dependent care coverage, also known as “being able to stay on your parents’ insurance plan until you are 26,” will be offered by some major insurance companies prior to the law’s September start date for the provision. This is great news for a lot of people who would struggle to find insurance, including those whose birthdays make them ineligible to stay on their parents’ plans or will be graduating from high school or college in a couple of months.
Here is the statement from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on efforts to work with insurers to voluntarily provide coverage for graduating seniors and young adults:
Expanding the opportunity for younger Americans to get insurance coverage is a top priority for the Administration. The Affordable Care Act offers the option for most children under the age of 26 to stay on their parents’ policy. This is a group of people who have traditionally either been unable to afford coverage or have not had access to it.Following our initial conversations and outreach to insurers, we are encouraged by the actions of WellPoint, United Healthcare, and other companies to bridge the gap between now and the fall when the law becomes effective.
We are also working hard with other insurers on similar proposals and sent a letter today offering to work with each of them to expand this opportunity even further. The letter follows productive discussions with insurers since the bill passed about closing the gap in coverage for college graduates or young adults whose birthday in 2010 made them ineligible to continue on their parents’ plans.
Good news.
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Thomas Bates Bio: Thomas is Rock the Vote's Vice President of Civic Engagement. @BatesThomas Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
Young Adults and HCR Costs
Thursday, April 1st, 2010There’s been a lot of talk asking how health care is paid for and what about this talk about premium hikes for young people around the ages of 18-29? Linda Douglass of the White House office of Health reform has an interesting blog post describing some of the media reports that have come with health care reform since the President signed the bill and the benefits of reform to the health care system.
You can read the entire blog post by clicking here but here are some highlights:
The reality is that under health reform, millions of young people will be entitled to tax credits to help them afford coverage. A young single person making roughly $43,000 or less will qualify for credits to help him or her afford coverage. A selective analysis of the cost to young people that excludes tax credits available to them is simply inaccurate.
And
Young adults will have the option of purchasing a lower level of coverage that meets their needs. Those who still cannot afford coverage will qualify for a hardship waiver. And of course, thanks to health reform, young adults will now be able to stay on their parents’ coverage until they turn 26. As a result of health reform, young adults who previously would not have carried insurance will now have the security of knowing that they won’t be driven into debt by accident or illness as they are just starting their lives out on their own.
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Jason Bio: Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
Get a Job, baby!
Friday, March 26th, 2010All of our comments are sent to a queue so I read (or glance) over many of them before I hit approve. As you can see, there isn’t any censorship. I just throw away all the spam. So in reading the blog comments, I noticed a lot of people telling people opposed to Health Care Reform to “Stop crying and get a job!”
While that’s a great plan in theory, with unemployment hovering around 10 percent, that’s not always easy and many qualified people are still out of work and another many work for businesses that don’t offer insurance.
But what happens when you can’t get a job because you’re an infant (I mean just out of the womb infant) and you’re denied health care because your parents’ insurance company (if they have insurance) says you have a “pre-existing condition”? Are you still a free-loader?
Check out this story of the Tracy family from Texas. Their infant son is being denied health insurance due to a pre-existing condition and since the provision that makes it illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against kids doesn’t become law until September, the family is fighting for coverage now. A call to the Texas Department of Insurance hasn’t resulted in any results yet. So the baby is fighting to live and the family is doing it all without insurance.
[The Tracy's} paid out of pocket for Kim Tracy's neonatal care and the baby's delivery. Doug Tracy said they were told that they could apply for insurance for Houston within 30 days of his birth.
A spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas declined to comment but issued a statement saying, "Our policy is that if a family has existing coverage with us, a baby can be added to the contract within 31 days without the need for underwriting to assess the baby's eligibility."
But that's only if the parents have coverage, said the spokeswoman, Margaret Jarvis. Read that with the emphasis on parents.
You can read the entire story by clicking here
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Jason Bio: Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
