Facts on the Affordable Care Act and Louisiana

Home  »  Blog  »  Facts on the Affordable Care Act and Louisiana
Jun 22, 2012 No Comments ›› atuozzolo

The Affordable Care Act, the new health care law, is making a positive difference in our health care system. Just this week, the Obama Administration made three announcements about how the new law is helping people in Louisiana. Thanks to the health care law:

  •  3.1 Million More Young Adults Have Health Insurance: Thanks to the health care law, young adults can stay on their parent’s health plan until age 26. This week, we announced that 3.1 million people who would have been uninsured – including 53,000 in Louisiana – have gained coverage through this new benefit. Learn more here.
  • Community Health Centers are Stronger: Community health centers work to improve the health of the nation by ensuring access to quality primary health care services. The health care law has helped community health centers serve millions of additional patients. This week, Louisiana health centers received $1,908,333 in new grants that will help them serve 25,122 additional patients. Nationwide, these grants will ensure nearly 1.3 million more patients get high quality health care and will help support approximately 5,640 jobs. Learn more about these grants here.
  • You are Getting a Better Value for Your Health Care Dollar: The new health care law created the 80/20 rule, which requires that health insurers spend at least 80 percent of your health care premiums on health care or improvements to care or they must refund you the difference. This is also known as the medical loss ratio. In Louisiana, 75,500 residents will benefit from a total of $4.1 million in rebates this summer. Overall, 12.8 million Americans will be benefiting from $1.1 billion in rebates from insurance companies this summer. Learn more about this announcement here.

For more information about the Affordable Care Act, visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/healthreform.

To see 10 things we can thank Obamacare for, click here.

Read these common attacks, and factual responses, to the President’s Health Care Reform Plan:

ATTACK: “The American people hate Obamacare.”
RESPONSE:

  • Actually, polls have consistently shown that the majority of Americans think Obamacare is an improvement — that it makes American health care better. That’s because a lot of people think the health law doesn’t go far enough or isn’t liberal enough – and if you include them, the polling shows just that.
  • And when Americans learn what the health law actually does — like preventing insurance companies from denying people with pre-existing conditions or dropping them when they get sick – they strongly support it.
  • That consistent view — that Obamacare made American health care better — comes despite the President’s political opponents outspending the law’s supporters by 3-1 on attack ads. Not to mention the media repeating their false spin.
  • What’s universally unpopular is the health care system we had before – Americans overwhelmingly agree it was broken. Now more Americans want to keep or expand the health care law than repeal it.

ATTACK: “Obamacare is a government takeover.”
RESPONSE:

  • It’s about time we had someone on our side. Insurance companies have had free reign at our expense for long enough.
  • The health care law holds insurance companies accountable and ends their practices of denying and dropping coverage just when you need it the most.
  • Opponents of the law are siding with the insurance companies that donate to their campaigns and oppose the law because they don’t want to have to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
  • It’s time to move forward — we can’t afford to put insurance companies back in charge.

ATTACK: “Obamacare increases the deficit.”
RESPONSE:

  • Actually, the health law reduces the deficit.
  • Here’s how: The health law cracks down on waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, ends billions in taxpayer handouts to insurance companies, and expands smart preventive care so doctors can detect illnesses early, before they get more expensive to treat.
  • So repealing Obamacare would increase the deficit. Take it from the nonpartisan authorities required by law to be objective.

ATTACK: “Obamacare will increase costs.”
RESPONSE:

  • The health care law holds down health care costs by capping the amount of our premium money insurance companies can siphon off for marketing and padding profits. The law also allows small businesses to band together to get the same lower insurance rates as big corporations.
  • The law also lowers patients’ costs with common-sense measures that hold down everyone’s costs in the long run:  eliminating co-pays for check-ups, providing free preventive care, and lowering prescription drug costs for seniors.
  • An overwhelming majority of Americans are worried about paying for health care, but Republican politicians would let the insurance companies go back to charging us whatever they want and siphoning off our premium dollars for marketing and CEO bonuses instead of our health care.
  • The health care law does essentially everything experts say we need to do to hold down health care costs. Going back to the old broken system only means we’ll all have to pay more.

ATTACK: “Obamacare cuts Medicare by $500 billion.”
RESPONSE:

  • Here’s the truth: The law does not cut Medicare benefits, period. Instead, Obamacare cuts waste and abuse out of Medicare to make sure older Americans and taxpayers aren’t getting ripped off.
  • The law’s political opponents are just trying to confuse people into thinking Medicare benefits would be harmed, but they are not affected at all.
  • The real threat to Medicare is the Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it by replacing its guaranteed benefits with a privatized voucher program.
  • If Republican politicians really wanted to protect Medicare, guess what? They’d support the health care law. It’s already doing it.

ATTACK: “Obamacare has death panels.”
RESPONSE: