More Details on What Health Care Reform Does for Seniors

March 30, 2010

More details for Seniors interested in how health care reform will help them is provided here. Here's a list of what changes will take effect immediately:

• Provides a $5 billion reinsurance fund to help employers who provide health benefits to early retirees ages 55 to 64 (goes into effect in 90 days);

• Eliminates pre-existing conditions for non-dependent children up to age 26;

• Prohibits insurers from placing lifetime limits on coverage;

• Restricts new plans' annual limits on coverage;

• Provides $5 billion to states to create a high risk insurance pool for those denied insurance due to pre-existing conditions and who have been without insurance for 6 months;

• Prohibits rescission, or dropping coverage, when individuals become sick;

• Creates a public health and wellness fund and requires new private insurance plans to offer preventive services without co-payments;

• Provides up to 35 % tax credits to small business that offer health care coverage;

• Creates a new and independent health insurance appeals process for consumers

What Does Health Care Do For You?

How are older Americans specifically affected by health care reform? Click here to see a full report done by the Alliance for Retired Americans. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Closing the Medicare “doughnut hole” coverage gap so seniors will no longer have to cut dangerous corners on their medications;

• Eliminating co-pays for preventive screenings to help older Americans more quickly and affordably identify and treat diseases such as cancer and diabetes;

• Cutting wasteful spending to extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund so seniors can better afford premiums which have doubled over the past eight years; and

• Reducing costly health problems by assisting pre-Medicare retirees with insurance costs and banning discrimination based on pre-existing conditions.

Special Edition Friday Alert
March 23, 2010

Retirees with the Write Stuff: Write Letter, Win Pen

"Retirees with the Write Stuff" is an Alliance project recognizing retirees whose letters to the editor are published. Most recently, Vivian Silbiger, Janice Ayres, Billy Feitlinger, Donna McGrath, Owen Humphress, John Pernorio, Beatrice Stratton, and Barbara Franklin contributed to their state and local papers. If you have had a letter published recently, please email us at letters@retiredamericans.org so that we can recognize you and send you a "Write Stuff" pen.

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Chairperson: Marilyn Higgins
Ssecretary/Treasurer : Joan Liller

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If you or anyone you know is retired or planning to retire we want to hear from you. The HPAE COR is a group of former HPAE members who are still active in their union, local and on the political front.