Sharing this with everyone: an email I got from the American Diabetes Association

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I copied and pasted an email I received from the American Diabetes association. I thought I would share it with y’all as I am hoping it will be good news for all.



Six months ago, historic health care reform legislation that will make our
insurance system fairer for people with diabetes was signed into law.
The Affordable Care Act includes many new tools in the fight to stop diabetes – and a number of them go into effect tomorrow.

Starting tomorrow, you will no longer need to fear your insurance company will drop you just when you need help the most. And when your new policy year begins, your children up to age 26 are welcome to stay on your plan.

The American Diabetes Association has been weighing in at every turn on how the new rules can best meet the health care needs of people with diabetes and pre-diabetes, and we will continue to do so. Once fully in place, these sweeping changes will put an end to discrimination against people with diabetes in the insurance market. And we take a big leap down that road to fairness tomorrow.

Here are some of the changes taking effect as of September 23 (Please note some of these will impact you when your insurance plan's year begins):

  • No Pre-existing Condition Exclusions for Children: Insurers are prohibited from rejecting children under age 19 because of their diabetes.
  • No Dropping the Sick: Insurers are prohibited from rescinding policies to avoid paying medical bills when a person is diagnosed with diabetes or has a complication related to diabetes.
  • No Lifetime Limits on Benefits: Lifetime caps on benefit coverage are prohibited, and there are new restrictions on annual limits as well.
  • Young Adults Can Stay on Their Parents' Plans Until Age 26.
  • Right to Appeal: New protections provide consumers with a way to appeal coverage decisions to their insurance company and to an external review process.

In addition, earlier this summer, new high risk pools were established for people who could not get insurance because of conditions like diabetes, and seniors began receiving a $250 rebate for medications they previously had to pay for on their own. For more information about what you can expect from the new law and a timeline of when changes take effect, see the September issue of Diabetes Forecast® and healthcare.gov.

Throughout the health care reform debate, the American Diabetes Association fought hard to ensure reform benefited the nearly 24 million people with diabetes and the 57 million with pre-diabetes. Together, we'll continue to work to make sure people with diabetes get the care they need to survive – and to thrive.

Thank you for all you've done and continue to do to stop diabetes through advocacy.

Nash Childs, PE

Sincerely,
Nash Childs, PE
Nash Childs, PE
Chair of the Board
American Diabetes Association
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One of the big problems though is that they are now simply refusing to sell insurance to some people, like child only policies… so they don’t have to deal with covering people with pre-existing conditions. http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fi-kids-health-insurance-20100921,0,799167.story

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One thing that is not mentioned there is that they are also limiting Flexible Spending accounts to $2500 starting in 2013. This year I had $3500 put aside in mine and may run out before year’s end. That’s an extra $1000 that I’ll be taxed on

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Scott I don’t have a flexible acct anyways. Never did have a job that gave me that perk

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It’s a step in the right direction and I have to applaud that. Still … when my COBRA runs out this spring, I will have to wait six months to get coverage under the Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Program (PCIP), and according to the official website it’s gonna run me almost $600 a month. There’s no way I can afford that. I’m doing my best to stay healthy and grateful that my meds are on WalMart’s $4 prescription list, at least until I can find another job with insurance.