Protect Our Care Is Marking the 11th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act With 11 Days Celebrating the Success of the Health Care Law
Eleven years ago, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became the law of the land and millions of people gained coverage and critical protections as a result. By expanding Medicaid and introducing key protections, the ACA has improved coverage and health care access for the 61 million people with disabilities across the country.
After four long years of Republican efforts to repeal and sabotage the ACA, President Biden and Democrats in Congress are now working to build on the strong foundation of the health care law to expand coverage, lower costs, and reduce racial disparities in health care. On March 11, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law, historic legislation that includes the most significant health care expansion in more than a decade. Solidifying and expanding the ACA is especially important as millions of Americans have contracted the COVID-19, with some “long haulers” facing the possibility of lifelong disabilities. Without the ACA’s protections, survivors of COVID-19 would likely be deemed as having a pre-existing condition and be at the mercy of their insurance companies who could refuse to pay for needed care.
The Affordable Care Act Provided Affordable Coverage And Health Security To People With Disabilities:
The ACA Prevents Insurance Companies From Charging Americans With A Disability More, Or Denying Them Coverage Altogether. Prior to the ACA, insurance companies were allowed to charge people more or deny coverage simply because they had a pre-existing condition. The ACA banned this practice, requiring that insurance companies offer people coverage regardless of their health status. Without the ACA, premium surcharges could once again be in the six figures for some conditions.
Thanks To The ACA, Insurance Companies Can No Longer Impose Annual And Lifetime Limits On Coverage. Before the ACA, insurance companies could restrict the dollar amount of benefits someone could use per year or over a lifetime. At the time the ACA was passed, 91 million Americans had health care through their employers that imposed lifetime limits. Many such plans capped benefits at $1 million, functionally locking people with complex medical needs out of coverage.
Under The ACA, Insurance Companies Can No Longer Practice Medical Underwriting, A Process That Lets Insurers Make It Harder For People With Disabilities To Get The Coverage They Needed. Before the ACA, insurance companies could screen applicants for any conditions that might be costly to the company. If someone had condition that was predicted to cost the insurer more, the company would follow a practice called “medical underwriting” that allowed them to charge the applicant a higher premium, specifically exclude coverage for the condition that was expected to be costly, charge the applicant a higher deductible, or limit the applicant’s benefits (for instance, offer a policy that did not cover prescription drugs).
The ACA Requires Insurance Companies To Cover Basic Health Services. The Affordable Care Act established the ten essential health benefits, requiring insurance companies to cover rehabilitative or habilitative services, hospitalization, maternity care, prescription drugs, mental health services, and more. Before the ACA, many people with disabilities had insurance that didn’t cover basic health care needs.
The ACA Allowed States To Expand Medicaid — A Lifeline For People With Disabilities. Nearly 8.7 million adults enrolled in Medicaid have a disability. Of this group, only 43 percent qualify for supplemental security income (SSI). The remaining 5 million beneficiaries do not receive SSI and therefore do not qualify for coverage based on their disability status alone, meaning they rely on the ACA’s Medicaid expansion or eligibility as low-income parents.
The ACA Boosted Employment For People With Disabilities
Thanks to the ACA, people with disabilities have more flexibility to leave jobs or change career paths without fear of losing access to comprehensive health care. Per the Center for American Progress: “People with disabilities no longer had to weigh serious concerns about accessing coverage—which in the past may have caused them to stay in a job that paid poorly or that they had advanced beyond professionally or even to take a job out of state that offered the benefits they needed. The ACA helped guarantee the disability community was not disproportionately penalized when pursuing a career based on their own desires and personal choices rather than out of fear of losing health care.”
Study: Medicaid Expansion Increased Employment For People With Disabilities. “Individuals with disabilities are significantly more likely to be employed if they live in a state that has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a new study has found. Researchers at the University of Kansas co-authored a study that found a 6 percentage-point difference in employment rates among working-age adults with disabilities in states that expanded Medicaid and those that chose not to.” [The University Of Kansas, 12/21/16]