“The Bear Market Economics Phenomenon” is an observation of Political Economics. Wall Street Admits: ‘We Got Rich Off the Backs of Workers’ thus creating the Bear Market. The Bear Market is America's default war.
The ethic of Wall Street is the ethic of celebrity. It is fused into one bizarre, perverted belief system and it has banished the possibility of the country returning to a reality-based world or avoiding internal collapse. A society that cannot distinguish reality from illusion dies.
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Links
Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the Senate version of the health insurance reform bill. The bill was merged from the bills passed by the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.
I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts with me throughout this process. Over the next several weeks, we will be working to make improvements and finalize the bill. At the end of this process, I hope to support legislation that stops unfair practices by insurance companies, makes health care affordable for families and small businesses, and protects Medicare for years to come.
As always, please continue to keep me informed about issues of concern to you and your family.
Sincerely,
Debbie Stabenow
United States Senator
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Immediate Benefits
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes health insurance market reforms that will bring immediate benefits to millions of Americans, including those who currently have coverage. The following benefits will be available in the first year after enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Access to Affordable Coverage for the Uninsured with Pre-existing Conditions
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will provide $5 billion in immediate federal support for a new program to provide affordable coverage to uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Coverage under this program will continue until new Exchanges are operational.
Re-insurance for Retiree Health Benefit Plans
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will create immediate access to re-insurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees.
This re-insurance will help protect coverage while reducing premiums for employers and retirees.
Closing the Coverage Gap in the Medicare (Part D) Drug Benefit
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will reduce the size of the “donut hole” by raising the ceiling on the initial coverage period by $500 in 2010.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will also guarantee 50 percent price discounts on brand-name drugs and biologics purchased by low and middle-income beneficiaries in the coverage gap.
Small Business Tax Credits
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will offer tax credits to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable.
Tax credits of up to 50 percent of premiums will be available to firms that choose to offer coverage.
Extension of Dependent Coverage for Young Adults
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require insurers to permit children to stay on family policies until age 26.
Free Prevention Benefits
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require coverage of prevention and wellness benefits and exempt these benefits from deductibles and other cost-sharing requirements in public and private insurance coverage.
No Arbitrary Limits on Coverage
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will prohibit insurers from imposing lifetime limits on benefits and will restrict the use of annual limits.
Protection from Rescissions of Existing Coverage
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will stop insurers from rescinding insurance when claims are filed, except in cases of fraud or intentional misrepresentation of material fact.
Prohibits Discrimination Based on Salary
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will prohibit group health plans from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that have the effect of discriminating in favor of higher wage employees.
Ensuring Value for Premium Payments
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will establish standards for insurance overhead to ensure that premiums are spent on health benefits.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will also require public disclosure of overhead and benefit spending and require premium rebates for insurers that exceed established standards for overhead expenses.
Public Access to Comparable Information on Insurance Options
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will enable creation of a new website to provide information on and facilitate informed consumer choice of insurance options.
Health Insurance Consumer Information
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will provide assistance to States in establishing offices of health insurance consumer assistance or health insurance ombudsman programs to assist individuals with the filing of complaints and appeals, enrollment in a health plan, and, eventually, to assist consumers with resolving problems with tax credit eligibility.
Clear Summaries, Without the Fine Print
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will require insurance companies to outline coverage options using a simple and standard format that enables consumers to make an apples-to-apples comparison when they are choosing their health insurance plan.
Appeals Process
Under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all health plans will implement an effective appeals process for appeals of coverage determinations and claims.
Administrative Simplification
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all health plans will adopt uniform descriptions of plan benefits and appeals procedures and will use uniform forms and claims processing processes to reduce cos
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This page contains information and resources, much of it released by the Finance Committee, about the debate so far.
How You Can Get Involved
Join the Health Care People's Lobby! Senator Stabenow wants to make sure that people in Michigan who need health care coverage are heard! Join us and share your story with Senator Stabenow. She's fighting for affordable, quality healthcare for you and your family. It's time to get it done! Sign up now!
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The merged Senate health care bill, called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and will create the transformation within the health care system necessary to contain costs.
Updated - America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009 (Released 10/05/09): This contains a revised version of the America's Healthy Future Act. These changes reflect the work of the Finance Committee and are noted in blue and red.
Final Legislative Language of the HELP Committee Bill The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed their version of health insurance reform, S.1679, called the “Affordable Health Choices Act.” This bill will be combined with the final Finance Committee bill to create a merged bill.
Updated - Chairmans Technical Corrections This was the working copy of the bill used by the Finance Committee during the process known as the “markup.” The final version of this document can be found in the Finance Committee Report (posted above).
HELP Committee Legislative Mark The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has released their “mark” of the health care bill. This is the starting copy of the bill that will be used during the markup, a process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation.
Reforming America’s Health Care Delivery System This roundtable discussion focused on general goals of reforming our health care system. The discussion featured leaders from the non-profit sector, the federal government, insurance companies, and academics.
Expanding Health Care Coverage This roundtable looked at ways to extend coverage for the uninsured and underinsured. Leaders from labor unions, think tanks, insurance, and business groups gave their input to the Committee.
Financing Comprehensive Health Care Reform The third roundtable considered several options for how to pay for health care reform. Economists and budget analysts gave statements on how to fund heath care reform.
Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans This document presents many potential insurance market reforms, ways to make coverage affordable, a public health insurance option, the role of public programs, responsibility sharing, prevention and wellness, long term care services and options to address health disparities
Proposed Health System Savings and Revenue Options This document explains a wide array of options to create savings in the health system, options to modify the exclusion for employer-provided health cover, other health care related revenue raisers, lifestyle-related revenue raisers and the Administration's revenue raising options.
Healthreform.gov Managed by the Department of Health & Human Services, this website is a clearinghouse for information about the Administration's goals for achieving health care reform.
The Hidden Costs of Healthcare With each passing year, Americans are paying more for health care coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages.1 In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job.2 Americans pay more than ever for health insurance, but get less coverage.
The Economic Case for Health Care Reform The White House Council of Economic Advisors released this report detailing why health care reform is so important for the long-term strength of the American economy. Reforming health care will increase the GDP and put more money in the pockets of American families.
White House Forum on Health Care Reform President Obama brought together leaders with diverse views at the White House Forum on Health Reform. The White House issued a report highlighting the productive discussions from the event.
Report on Health Care Community Discussions The recommendations from more than 3,200 Health Care Community Discussions were systematically analyzed to compile the report, Americans Speak on Health Reform.
The Burden of Health Insurance Premium Increases on
American Families Health insurance premiums for American families continue to skyrocket. A report released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) on September 15th, reported that the average annual family premium for employer-sponsored health insurance rose to $13,375 in 2009.1 This represents an increase of 5.5 percent increase in premiums for families in the past year when inflation actually fell by 0.7 percent.
Hearings and Debates
HELP Committee Hearings The other committee with jurisdiction over health care is the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. This link takes you to a list of their recent hearings, including those on health care reform.
Draft: Affordable Choices Act This is a working draft of the HELP Committee version of the health reform bill. This is not the final proposal, but lays out some of the major issues Congress will focus on in the coming months.
Resources for Health Care Coverage Many families qualify for assistance with health care coverage, but don't know about it. This website will let you check whether you or your children are qualified for assistance under Medicaid or the MIChild Program.
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