1. allow young adults to stay on their parents’ health plan until they are 26 years old
2. cover all preventive services without charging any co-pay or coinsurance fees
3. banning insurance companies from rescinding coverage based on technicalities
4. eliminate lifetime dollar limits on essential insurance benefits
5. follow new regulations regarding annual dollar limits on insurance coverage
6. provide coverage to all children under the age of 19, despite pre-existing conditions

In addition to this, consumers now also have a way to appeal any insurance company’s decision through an external review process, which increases the chance of favorable decisions since the insurance company’s self-interest is taken out of the equation.

The good news is that it is easier to be eligible for Medicaid if you have a disability. In fact, any person with a disability is eligible for Medicaid in ALL states. What this means is that you cannot be denied coverage by Medicaid because you have a disability. However, other conditions such as income and assets still apply.

In some states, as long as a disabled person gets Supplemental Security Income (SSI), that person is automatically eligible for Medicaid. In other states, people with income brackets that exceed Medicaid limits can even be approved through their “buy in” programs.

Furthermore, Medicare also provides benefits to people with disabilities, even if they are under 65 as long as they get dsiability benefits from Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

You can file your appeal directly to the insurance company or hire a lawyer to help you with the process. The good news though is that by September of this year, there will be an external review process put in place by the government where people can appeal issues such as this. This will definitely increase the chances of your appeal actually being approved, even without a lawyer. In the meantime, make sure you file that appeal within the appeal deadline given by the insurance company.

To be eligible for the tax credit the business should:

• shoulder at least 50% of the health insurance premium of each employee, with the premium computed based on single rates.
• have at most 25 full time workers or 50 part time workers
• pay at most an average of $50,000 per annum in wages

This piece of news is definitely a win-win situation for employers since it will lower their insurance benefits costs, allowing them to give better benefits to employees, and thus enabling them to recruit and retain higher quality workers.

The new bill, called Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) also allowed for $100 million to be awarded over 5 years in order to push for more innovations in children’s health care.

As of today, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced that $72 million is set to be awarded to 9 states have made significant progress in enrolling children in health coverage through Medicaid and improving access to children’s coverage through Medicaid and CHIP. This award came from CHIPRA funding. Hopefully, other states will follow suit, ensuring that more children will have health insurance coverage.

For indemnity plans, the insurance company usually asks the patient to pay the fees upfront and reimburses only a certain percentage of the medical, usually 70 to 80 percent. The rest of the amount, which isn’t reimbursed, is call coinsurance. However, most plans also have a “cap”, which is the maximum out-of-pocket expense a patient can pay out each year for their medical bill. Once the cap is reached the insurance company pays for all the medical bills incurred as long as all procedures done are covered under the policy.

The first option you should look into is Medicaid. Contact you local an Resources Department or Social Services to see if you qualify for Medicaid. Make sure that you keep all medical receipts while waiting for new from Medicaid since they will reimburse you if you are approved.

If you do not qualify for Medicaid, the next step is to try to get group insurance. Note that even if you are pregnant, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, health insurers cannot consider pregnancy a preexisting condition. This means that they cannot deny you coverage because of the fact, however, if you are well into your pregnancy the waiting period to be covered due to other pre-existing conditions might rule this out for you since it might even exceed the date of delivery.

In this case, the best thing to do is contact your local hospital to ask for different packages and payment plans. Many hospitals offer packages wherein all pre-natal visits, tests, procedures, delivery charges, and post-natal visits are included for a much reduced cost.

Community services- This includes adult day care, senior centers, friendly visitor programs, and more.

Accessory Dwelling Units – If the family agrees, add a separate living unit, which can be attached to the house or just on the same lot. You can even just convert the basement or another floor, thus ensuring privacy and independence while being close enough to ask for help if needed.

Group Living Arrangements – This can come in the form of board and care homes, which usually affordable and covers not just the rent but meals and other necessary services. This can also come in the form of assisted living facilities and retirement communities.

Subsidized senior housing – Look up Federal and state programs that could help subsidize the rent for senior housing. In some cases, these housing facilities even include basic services.

If you have either of the two, a nursing home can be an affordable solution. However, with neither to cover the cost of care, good nursing homes can be way too expensive. Home care is possible but the truth is that if you need special help from a caregiver, home care can also be just too expensive.

The good news is there are plenty of sound alternative choices for long-term care. These choices range from free to entailing some expense, however, relatively to an unsubsidized nursing homes, they are definitely more affordable. On top of that, a level of independence is retained, which is important to most people who refuse nursing homes as a form of long-term care.

For a nursing home to get certified they have to pass not just fire inspections but health inspections too. These health inspections are done yearly for most, although “problematic” nursing homes are inspected more frequently than that.

Note though that despite the certification, it is still important to compare nursing homes by actually visiting the place and looking at the facilities, observing the staff’s attitudes, and getting feedback. Use the fact that a home is Medicare or Medicaid certified as a guide, and not a sole determiner when it comes to choosing nursing homes.