What Seniors Can Expect from Health Care Reform

The new AARP Bulletin just arrived in our mailbox, with an excellent, easy-to-understand User's Guide to Health Care Reform for the over-55 crowd. Just in time for me - I'm headed to Sunbury on Tuesday to speak to seniors there about the new law and what it means for them, so I'll be studying this closely. It's also available online here: AARP User's Guide. 

The Guide spells out a few provisions that may surprise people. Last summer, there was a lot of yelling from people asking why all Americans couldn't have insurance as good as that of their representatives in Congress. Well, guess what? That's pretty much what the new law provides. 

Members of Congress will be required to buy insurance through the same state insurance exchanges being set up for the rest of us who don't have employer-based insurance. 

These insurance exchanges will provide a choice of plans, with a specific minimum benefit package and a cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses. Insurers won't be able to charge higher rates for women than men, or for people with pre-existing conditions. They'll be limited on how much more they can charge based on age. 

For seniors on Medicare, there are some important new benefits - a free annual physical and preventive services. And the infamous doughnut hole in Medicare Part D will soon be a thing of the past. No more will seniors need to choose between paying for food or paying for medications. 

Last year, when my husband fell into the doughnut hole in September, the cost of two of his medications went from $40 a month to $400 overnight. Thank goodness we only had a few months till the start of the new year, and we had the money (though it won't last us for too many more years like this past one). 

This year, we'll receive an automatic rebate from Medicare of $250 after we enter the doughnut hole period. It's a start. Next year, the new law says we'll get 50% off on those drugs, and by 2020 the doughnut hole will be gone.