The Best Resources on the Internet about the Healthcare Law
Get The Facts on SEIU.org
The healthcare law at work Join the fight to protect healthcare Share your healthcare storyThe resources and links below are our recommendations from some of the best policy organizations and media outlets that provide up-to-date information on the new law, as well as help you understand how the benefits of health reform apply to you.
The Big Picture on the Healthcare Law
Healthcare Scorecard: While many of the provisions of the 2010 healthcare law don't take effect until 2014, some significant changes have kicked in since the law passed two years ago. Check it out at the Kaiser News Network.
At the Kaiser Family Foundation's website, an interactive timeline allows you to see all of the provisions of the healthcare law that will be implemented over the next several years. This timeline can be customized by checking and unchecking specific topics.
Healthcare.gov has an amazing wealth of information on the healthcare law that's frequently updated. The site lists and links to 5,600 insurance plans offered by more than 1,000 companies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- Check out their online tool which allows you to select your state and then see what private insurance plans, public programs and community services are available to you (Example: Virginia).
- You can also have the Affordable Care Act explained distinctly to you as an individual, part of a family with children, a person with disabilities, a senior, a young adult or an employer.
Attacks on the Healthcare Law
News on Repeal
SEIU.org: The True Cost of RepealAt a time when American businesses are struggling and families are hurting, experts have found that the healthcare law will decrease our deficit and create millions of new jobs by reducing the costs of health care for employers, allowing them to expand their workforce.
* Families USA also has a section on their website with up-to-date information addressing efforts to repeal the law or block its implementation. Check it out here.
Additional Online Resources
Provisions of the Law
The first changes under The Affordable Care Act took effect on September 23, 2010, six months after the bill was signed. Additional provisions went into effect on January 1, 2011 and there are many more to come over the next several years.
This animated video from Kaiser Family Foundation explains the changes that are happening now thanks to the healthcare law, and what changes we can expect in 2014.
The Healthcare Law Hits Main Street
The Healthcare Law and You
- Consumer Reports has a handy online health insurance guide outlining in clear, easy-to-understand terms how the new law affects the health insurance marketplace and you. Download the PDF guide here.
- AARP has educational fact sheets about the new health care law that are easy to understand and easy to print, e-mail and share, including explanations of the new law, how it affects Medicare and what reform means for young adults, people ages 50-64, age 65+, women, African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, family caregivers, small business owners and more. Go to AARP's site.
- Find out how insurance companies are now required to spend most of your premium dollars on health care--not on overhead, expenses or executive salaries--and how failure to do so could result in your getting a refund, starting in 2012. (Healthcare.gov)
Seniors and Retirees
FamiliesUSA.org details how the Affordable Care Act that will bring historic improvements to the quality and safety of care for seniors and persons with disabilities, expand the long term care workforce, and result in the most comprehensive federal effort ever to fight elder abuse.
The Alliance for Retired Americans has extensive information on their website on how seniors and retirees will benefit from reform will receive tremendous benefits from the new health reform law.
- Download PDFs on changes to the long-term care sector of our health care system and benefits for early retirees.
Medicare Benefits
Thanks to reform, the doughnut hole in prescription drug coverage will gradually close over the next decade.
- The Alliance for Retired Americans has a factsheet (PDF) on how closing the prescription drug coverage gap will help our nation's 46 million elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries.
- The Center for American Progress (CAP) has an online report on Medicare savings here.
Patient Care
Medicaid and the state Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP): Medicare's Hospital Compare website has an online tool that enables you to check up on the quality and safety of care at your local hospital, including infection rates.
Primary Care: A January 4, 2011 issue brief from The Commonwealth Fund explores how the Affordable Care Act will begin to address the neglect of America's primary care system and estimates the possible effects these efforts will have on patients, providers and payers.
- Download the PDF brief here.
