Health Reform and Your Benefits
Health Reform and Your Benefits
As a Scott & White Health Plan member, you may have questions about what kind of impact recent health care legislation may have on your benefits. We are closely following the legislation and its implications to our members who receive coverage from their employer as well as our individual policy holders. Some things will take effect later this year, but many of the major provisions will not come into play for several years.
If any requirements affect your coverage or coverage options, we will notify you of these options and your responsibilities. Some changes that will take effect later this year include:
- Extending eligible dependent coverage to age 26
- Eliminating annual and lifetime limits on coverage, and
- Coverage of preventive services at 100%.
In the longer term, additional requirements will come into effect. In the next several years, the bill will expand public programs like Medicaid, develop Health Benefits Exchanges at the state level, and provide additional Federal funding programs for qualified recipients. Along with these mandates will come the imposition of penalties on employers, individuals, and health plans that do not comply.
We are reviewing the legislation in detail to understand the bill and its implications. As always, now and in the future, we encourage you to take an active role in your health care coverage.
If you haven't already, schedule your annual physical and make sure you and your family are getting the preventive care exams you need. Check out our wellness programs and other benefits.
For more detailed information on the reform bill, visit Kaiser Family Foundation's "Summary of Coverage Provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010."
Last modified April 5, 2010.