Florida’s Immediate Benefits From the Healthcare Reforms

Below are some immediate benefits that the State of Florida will enjoy with the implementation of healthcare reforms:

1. All 3.2 million of Medicare enrollees in Florida will get preventive services, like colorectal cancer screenings, mammograms, and an annual wellness visit without copayments, coinsurance, or deductibles.

2. Florida has $351million federal dollars available starting July 1 to provide coverage for uninsured residents with pre-existing medical conditions. This program will be funded entirely by the Federal government.

3. 290,000 small businesses in Florida may be eligible for the new small business tax credit.

4. Florida, for the first time ever, has the option of Federal Medicaid funding for coverage for all low-income populations, irrespective of age, disability, or family status.

5. Beginning October 1, 2010, 372 Community Health Centers will help nearly double the number of patients seen by the centers over the next five years with increased funding.

It is clear that though the nature of the Affordable Care Act is forced, it has its own advantages and benefits for individual states and for particular groups of the population. Given the figures quoted above, Floridians are surely going to have a very good time by any means.

Florida’s Insurance Commissioner Promises to Protect Agents’ Interests

A press release issued by the Office of Insurance Regulation, Florida, has put to rest the fears of more than 101,500 licensed health insurance agents in the state.

With the Affordability Act coming into force, it was anticipated that insurance agents will be out if job as the focus of the reforms is to ensure that more funding goes to actual healthcare rather than insurance underwriting, administration or big salaries.

However all those scepticism is a thing of past now. Kevin McCarty, Florida Insurance Commissioner has announced that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has passed a resolution demonstrating NAIC’s commitment to preserve the role and interests of insurance agents. The resolution was co sponsored by McCarty.

"With the passage of federal healthcare reform, the healthcare insurance system has become even more complex. Although it is not considered a 'medical expense,' trained healthcare agents must remain an integral part of the health insurance process by helping businesses and families tailor healthcare insurance plans to meet their individual needs."

In its summer conference in Seattle this week, NAIC decided not to allow agents’ commission to be counted as ‘medical care’ under the guidelines being drafted to implement the federal health reform law.

It has however called on federal policy makers to protect the indispensable role that licensed insurance professionals play in serving consumers.

At present insurance agents get 20% of the customers’ first-year premiums and 5 % a year after that. Almost 90% of the money comes from the individual market.

Though Florida’s Insurance Commissioner is keen on protecting the profession and money of the agents, the loopholes in the laws might create a problem. Florida law is still unclear about whether agents could charge consumers an additional fee, over and above their health insurance premium.

What’s Your Age?

You crossed the age of 19 years recently? You had a strange kind of feeling inside you and could not convince yourself that you are out of the boys’ zone? One of things that helped you bring back from the tizzy world was the exclusion from your family health insurance policy, right? You are no longer provided coverage as a dependent, even if you are a student. In fact, is some States, the age of dependent children to be covered was set 18 years.

However, there seems some hope. With the implementation of healthcare reforms, children will be allowed to stay in their family health insurance policy as dependents till the age of 26 years. So, you have your options back and won’t be needed to spend extra money on availing an independent health insurance.

The clause of the healthcare reforms is slated to come into effect from September, 2010; however, some companies are already offering the dependents to come back in the fold. So, it is always better to check with the insurer or ask your parents to ask the insurers if they are offering the facility right now. If not, even then, it is only a month before you could officially join back.

Florida sees differences in opposition

Now Florida has jumped into the battle It has joined the long list of states who have filed some form of litigation in order to repel or deny the new federal reform bill to be effective in 2014.

Florida’s Attorney General Bill McCollum said, “If Congress can regulate the failure to have healthcare insurance coverage, it can equally regulate the `failure' to meet any other requirement it chooses to impose,''

The Florida lawsuit has a lot of firepower with 20 state attorney generals working on the case.

However, a group of 34 organizations, led by patient advocacy group FLORIDA CHAIN, have opposed the popular mandate and have urged the state to implement the reforms as soon as possible.

Their logic: Florida could lose out on millions of dollars over the decade if the state continues to ignore the new federal reform laws. In a letter addressed to the Governor Charlie Crist and Attorney General, McCollum, the group has reasoned, “"Because Florida has not moved forward, the federal government has already begun making some implementation decisions on Florida's behalf. Our state has also already turned down new resources made available from ACA implementation, allowing other states to take Florida's share."
The advocacy groups lists out the following priorities in the state to-do list:
• Opportunities to increase Florida's supply of health care professionals.
• Setting up medical homes to better coordinate care for Medicaid recipients.
• Reducing health care costs driven by the practice of defensive medicine.
• Helping residents get health coverage
However, at the moment, Florida is keener on repelling the federal Act than working in the priorities of the reform bill.

BlueCross to Issue Child Plans Once Again

The Affordability Act had brought good news to children with pre-exiting medical condition. They could now no longer be denied coverage due to their health condition. But what if there were no child-alone policies? This is the alternative that Blue Cross devised in response to the new reforms.

Amid fears that parents will wait to get coverage until their children got sick, the company had stopped issuing child-alone individual plans. There were concerns that the healthcare reforms barring them from discriminating against sick children will encourage parents to postpone getting coverage till they actually need it .

But Blue Cross Blue Shield has now decided to resume the sale of new policies after the White House issued new regulatory guidance on Tuesday. The Obama administration declared that it will establish an annual enrolment period for Child Only policies to ensure that children have access to comprehensive care all through the year. The new guidelines also clarify that plans are free to set up specific enrolment periods if allowed by Florida state laws. The new rules will be applicable from September 23.

The announcement has come as a relief to Blue Cross and has put all its concerns to rest. This was confirmed by Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director, and Office of Health Reform. She said, “We were concerned when last week, some indicated that insurance companies would choose to stop offering policies for children rather than cover kids with pre-existing conditions.”

The Administration has released new guidance to health insurance plans. The insurance companies have the liberty to establish an open enrolment period for children with existing medical conditions. However there will be regulations if insurance companies unfairly limit access to children who need it the most.