Healthcare Reform’s Community First Choice Option Debuts October 1st
One of the most visible signs of progress to date that the Affordable Health Care Act for Americans is working will begin next Friday, October 1st, when the Community First Choice program begins operations.
Community First Choice launches: Community First Choice allows states to receive a 6% increase in federal matching funds for providing community-based, attendant services and support to Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities. A total of $3.7 billion is available to states between now and 2014 for the program. The plan requires states to make the services and supports available under a person-centered plan of care that will help assist people with disabilities with activities of daily living and health-related tasks.
What’s Next for Health Reform: A Timeline of Implementation AHLAlerts
I scrolled through my old blog this morning after I typed the word “health” into the search engine and was reminded of just how contentious the fight over the healthcare reform law got to be. Despite the efforts by the Republican Party and their insatiable id, the Tea Party, to rebrand President Obama’s healthcare reform act as a failure, tangible benefits are already beginning to be seen by a few age-specific cohorts of the population.
One million young adults have health insurance thanks to the new rule that enables young adults up to age 26 to be covered through a parent’s private health insurance plan.
Seniors who hit the donut hole receive a 50% discount on brand-name drugs. Nearly 1.3 million seniors have already received the discount.
Nearly 19 million seniors have already received one or more free preventive services and 1.3 million seniors have already received a free Annual Wellness Visit.
Insurance companies must spend at least 80% of your premium dollar on health care, not overhead, advertising and bonuses. More than 165 million are now getting a better value for their insurance dollar.
Reducing Costs, Protecting Consumers: One Year Anniversary of the Patient’s Bill of Rights
Now, a year and a half after the passage of the Affordable Health Care Act for Americans, the president is trying to fashion next year’s campaign message out of the moments of his tenure, like the passage of the Affordable Health Care Act for Americans, that can legitimately be called victories. But how do you do that with a law that is at once omnipresent and yet ephemeral? How do you convince us as Americans to believe in something most of us can’t see yet?
I don’t know who is in charge of PR in the White House, or over in Health and Human Services, but they need to start by plastering the phrase “good ideas are sold, not bought” in big block letters on every wall in sight. Because too many people, including many of the seniors in whose lives the Obama administration has already made a difference, are buying the “Obamacare is evil” declaration being sold by conservatives hook, line and sinker.
