Health Care: What They’re Reading

Posted by White House

Today, Medicare’s Open Enrollment period begins and across the country, Americans have been reading about the benefits of the new law for seniors and the importance of delivering the benefits of reform to the American people.

Under the Affordable Care Act, beginning next year, seniors will be able to receive preventive services like mammograms and colonoscopies for free. The prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole will decrease until it is eliminated in 2020. This year, eligible seniors who hit the donut hole received a $250 rebate check. Thus far, over 1.8 million Medicare beneficiaries have received checks. Next year, they will receive a 50 percent discount on the brand name prescription drugs they purchase when they hit the donut hole. And all seniors will benefit from the provisions of the law that extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund for an additional 12 years. Writing about Open Enrollment, the Daily Press in Virginia notes:

The Affordable Care Act, the health-care reform bill that passed in the spring, affects Medicare beneficiaries in a couple of ways: it mandates a free annual wellness visit and for most it eliminates co-pays for certain recommended preventive services, such as cancer screenings; it also includes a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs when beneficiaries enter the "donut hole," or gap in prescription coverage…

In Florida, two newspapers placed a spotlight on the importance of moving forward with the Affordable Care Act and the danger of repealing or defunding the new law. The Orlando Sentinel notes:

Some Republicans are admitting that they can't repeal health-care reform, and pledging instead to deny funding to the agencies that would implement the law. But this could sabotage some of its best features — guaranteed insurance coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions, coverage for children up to age 26 on their parents' policies, health-related tax breaks for individuals and businesses, and enhanced benefits for drugs and preventive care for seniors.

The St. Petersburg Times writes:

Health care reform is about America's security. It will put the country on a firmer financial footing as it gives working families dependable health coverage at a more affordable price. It's not perfect, and there is plenty of room to improve it. Republicans should be focused on making health care reform better, rather than trying to kill it.

Millions of Americans are learning about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, and our Administration is moving forward to deliver these benefits and make reform a reality.

A Backyard Discussion on the Patient's Bill of Rights

Posted by White House

This morning we launched a new section of WhiteHouse.gov dedicated to health reform, a key feature of which is the interactive map with 50 stories from 50 states, giving a snapshot of the kinds of working people all across American who are just starting to get benefits from the President health care reform. A lot of these people, like Gail from New Hampshire whose surprise call from the President was caught in the video below, are benefiting from a series of changes going into full effect this week that have been called the Patient's Bill of Rights. These changes include things like ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions in kids, allowing kids to stay on their parents' plans until they're 26, making sure y don't lose coverage just for being sick, an end to lifetime lifetime limits and much more.

Gail joined the President in a backyard in Falls Church, Virginia to talk to some other middle class folks about their experiences. One of them was Dawn from Florida:

MS. JOSEPHSON: Thank you. I’m Dawn Josephson from Jacksonville, Florida. And I’ve been a self-employed entrepreneur since 1998. During that time, the majority of those years I didn’t even have insurance, because it was simply too expensive. In 2006, my son Wesley was born. This is Wesley.

THE PRESIDENT: Hey, Wes. Come on over here.

MS. JOSEPHSON: Go say hi. There you go.

THE PRESIDENT: This is Wesley here.

MS. JOSEPHSON: That’s Wesley. He was born in 2006, and that’s when we got -- we finally got health insurance. We’ve had a few different policies over the years, always had something excluded from it -- even something as silly as ear infections. What kid does not get ear infections? So, I mean, silly stuff.

In July of ‘09, he had eye surgery. We discovered he had sudden onset of a condition called strabismus in the eyes, and his right eye needed surgery. So we had the surgery, and less than a year later we said we needed new insurance. What we had was killing us for our premium. And this was right around the time -- right after the act passed.

The insurance company gave us an affordable rate -- we were looking for a very affordable plan. And when she told us we were approved, my immediate response was, “But what’s not covered?” And I knew full well we were going to have an exclusion for my son’s eye. And she said, “You’re covered. Nothing is not covered.” And I said, “Okay, I’m not being very clear here with my questioning. What about my son?” She said, “Yes, your son is covered.” I said, “No, you don’t understand. What if he needs another surgery on his eye? Are you going to pay for it?” They said, “Yes, he’s covered.” And I was shocked. And she said, “We can no longer exclude preexisting conditions for children.”

And it didn’t hit me until later that night when I was talking with my husband as to why she said that, and we started talking about it. And I said, wow, something affected me personally from the government -- was really shocking.

So not only do we have a more affordable plan, but my son is now covered no matter what happens. It is routine for children with strabismus to need multiple surgeries. And I know now that that’s not going to have to come out of our pocket, which was a big fear. So we’re very thankful and very grateful. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done, President Obama, and everything that you’ve -- everyone has done to push this through because it’s really made our life so much less stressful. It’s just an average American family.

Nine States and the District of Columbia Win Second Round Race to the Top Grants

Posted by White House

Today, 10 applicants have won grants in the second phase of the Race to the Top competition. Along with Phase 1 winners Delaware and Tennessee, 11 states and the District of Columbia have now been awarded money in the Obama Administration's groundbreaking education reform program that will directly impact 13.6 million students, and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools.

The 10 winning Phase 2 applications in alphabetical order are: the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

These states show what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children. Every state that applied showed a tremendous amount of leadership and a bold commitment to education reform. The creativity and innovation in each of these applications is breathtaking. We set a high bar and these states met the challenge.

We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them in this round. We're very hopeful there will be a Phase 3 of Race to the Top and have requested $1.35 billion dollars in next year's budget. In the meantime, we will partner with each and every state that applied to help them find ways to carry out the bold reforms they've proposed in their applications.

A total of 46 states and the District of Columbia put together comprehensive education reform plans to apply for Race to the Top in Phases 1 and 2. Over the course of the Race to the Top competition, 35 states and the District of Columbia have adopted rigorous common, college- and career-ready standards in reading and math, and 34 states have changed laws or policies to improve education.

You can watch my video announcement here: