Healthcare Reform

Abstract

The Affordable Care Act includes several provisions that are expected to significantly improve women's health. The Affordable Care Act improves coverage for important preventive services and maternity care, promotes higher quality care for older women, and ends the gender discrimination that requires women to pay more for the same insurance coverage as men.

The Affordable Care Act prohibits health plans from putting a lifetime dollar limit on most benefits received by Americans in any health plan renewing on or after September 23, 2010. While some plans already provided coverage with no limits on lifetime benefits, millions of Americans were previously in health plans that did not.

This Issue Brief provides estimates of Medicare Parts A, B, and D savings from the Affordable Care Act to seniors and people living with disabilities enrolled in traditional Medicare.

Results released December 14, 2011, by the National Center for Health Statistics demonstrate that the extension of dependent coverage up to age 26 has increased the number of young adults with health insurance, by even more than prior analyses had suggested.

The report contains the results of actuarial and policy analyses of the CLASS Act and the legal analysis of various benefit plan options. This report contains important findings that will help advance the cause of charting a path to affordable and sustainable long-term care options. [48 PDF pages]

New results released September 21, 2011, by the National Center for Health Statistics show that the dependent-coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act has had a significant impact on improving insurance coverage among young adults.