How Does Health Care Reform Affect My Family?

So, you’re probably just a little bit concerned about this new healthcare bill right? And you are probably wondering how it is going to affect your family. Well don’t worry, that’s just normal, after all, the healthcare changes that are coming into law are some pretty big ones. So for those of us with families to worry about, here’s what it means to you.

There are probably thousands of American families across the country asking themselves exactly the same thing ever since the new legislation was passed. The debate surrounding this issue has been long and very confusing, with the bill itself totaling thousands of pages. And who has the time and energy to check into something as complex as that?

Well, to give you a short answer, how the new healthcare reform bill is going to affect your family depends on your circumstances.

Anyone who often finds themselves struggling to pay for their monthly health insurance premiums or indeed, avoids paying for it altogether, may actually be able to get affordable coverage. Or at least, in a few years time they may. Meanwhile, anyone who is earning an income at the higher end of the scale may well be facing higher tax payments fairly soon

For many of America’s middle-income families however, such details as where they work, who their dependants are and where they live will have a big affect on how much the new healthcare reforms change their lives.

Here are some of the more family specific legislation changes:

• Children with health problems – The new healthcare reform bill will prohibit healthcare insurance providers from excluding children that have health conditions pre-existing. This is one provision that will take place immediately when the bill becomes law.

• Parental insurance and older kids – It will now be possible for dependent children up to the age of 26 years to remain on the family policy of their parents, once the bill comes into force. At the moment, the age at which children are taken off their parent’s policy is decided by individual states, and this usually happens at 18 years. However, there are no regulations in the bill as to how much this extended parental insurance might cost.

• Kids health insurance – The eligibility of children for the hugely popular Child’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), something that is vey helpful to low income families, will be maintained under the new bill. Even states that are feeling the strain of new budget cuts will not be able to cut off any children from this program before 2020.

• Wellness Program – According to the bill, such things as preventative health services and immunizations for young and adolescent children will have to be provided by any “qualified health plan”. This provision will come into effect after six months of the law being passed.