How the Affordable Care Act benefits people like you.

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Protecting the care of working families.

The healthcare law the working women and men of SEIU worked for a decade to pass means that working families can move forward toward more affordable, secure healthcare and better health, not backward to the status quo of skyrocketing premiums, insurance denials and and unchecked profits for insurance companies.

Since its passage on March 23, 2010, significant consumer protections and key benefits of the law already helping working families include:

More Affordable Healthcare

Americans with pre-existing conditions who were previously denied insurance now have access to affordable coverage.
No more lifetime limits on the amount of essential coverage or benefits a person may receive
Small businesses who provide coverage to their workers receive tax credits.

Better Access to Quality Care

Giving millions of Americans access to the same health care members of Congress get.
Young adults can stay on their parent's insurance plan until they are 26.
Lowered prescription drug costs and improved care for seniors.
Access to receive preventive services such as screenings and vaccinations free of charge to you under new health plans.

Holding Insurance Companies Accountable

Insurance companies cannot deny coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions or drop people from health plans or deny care if they get sick.
States have new resources to prevent insurers from unjustified premium hikes.
Your premium dollars must go toward care delivery, not marketing or profit margins.

Already benefitting seniors

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides seniors and their families with greater savings and higher quality healthcare. The law also strengthens Medicare by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse and expands home care services so more Americans have the choice of living independently at home.

Here are a few provisions of the law that are helping seniors now and in the future.

Seniors will be able to choose their own doctor or keep the one they have.
More affordable prescription drugs. Seniors received a one-time $250 rebate check if they fell into the Medicare Part D "donut hole" and a 50 percent savings in cost of brand name drugs.
Free preventive care services like cancer screenings and annual physical exams.
No more lifetime limits on care. Insurers can no longer limit how much they will pay in essential medical benefits over a person's lifetime.
Higher thresholds for Annual Limits on Care: must cover medical expenses up to at least $750,000 per year.
The law increases the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and physician assistants to provide better access to care through expanded training opportunities, student loan forgiveness, and bonus payments.
Expanded care services to some 20 million new patients served by community health centers.
As of 2018, seniors can expect to save on average almost $200 per year in premiums and more than $200 per year in co-insurance compared to what they would have paid without the new law.

New Tools to Fight Fraud and Protect Your Medicare Benefits

The law reduces payment errors, waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicare system to improve the quality of services, ensure its financial stability, and strengthen Medicare for years to come.

Improves Long-Term Care and Home Care Services

New tools and resources in the Elder Justice Act, which was included in the new law, will help prevent and combat elder abuse and neglect, and improve nursing home quality.
Individuals on Medicaid will receive improved home- and community based care options, and spouses of people receiving home- and community based services through Medicaid will no longer be forced into poverty.

Nursing Home Protections

The law provides expanded resources, such as access to quality ratings and complaint reports, for families seeking nursing home care and greater protections for nursing home residents.

Giving women greater control over their own healthcare

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will lower costs for women, provide greater choices, and ensure that women have greater control of their care and their family's care. After years of paying more for their healthcare and facing greater discrimination by insurance companies, the Affordable Care Act makes our healthcare system more affordable and equitable for women.

Key provisions of the law that will make a difference in the lives of millions of women now and in the future:

Stops the discriminatory practice of charging women more than men for health insurance.
Ends insurance abuses such as denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions - formerly including cesarean sections, diabetes and domestic violence - and dropping individuals after they become sick.
Guarantees preventive care, including free screenings for breast and cervical cancer and immunizations for children.
Expands coverage for young adults by allowing them to stay on their parents' health plan until age 26.
In 2014, extends health care coverage to tens of millions of women and families who currently don't have insurance.

Lower Costs for Women

Eliminates all lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will pay.
State health insurance exchanges and all new plans will limit out of-pocket expenses, such as co-pays and deductibles.
Provides tax credits starting in 2014 for women who cannot afford quality health insurance.

Greater Choices for Women

Stops insurance companies from denying children coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Prohibits insurance companies from denying any woman coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

Better, More Affordable Care for Women and their Families

Ensures coverage of prevention and basic health services, including maternity benefits Requires coverage of basic pediatric services for children under 18 under all new health plans, as well as oral and vision needs, starting in 2014.
State health insurance exchanges will provide consumer-friendly comparisons of prices, benefits and performance of health plans so women can decide which option is right for themselves and/or their families.

Expanding quality care coverage to young adults

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will provide more than 21 million young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 - approximately one third of the total uninsured population - with greater access to affordable, quality healthcare. Young adults have the highest rate of injury-related emergency department visits among all age groups and those without insurance are far more likely to be sicker than those with insurance.

The problem young adults face in finding affordable healthcare is linked to critical transition points in their lives: aging off parents' coverage when they graduate from high school or college and losing eligibility for public programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program when they turn 19.

The healthcare law helps deliver better, more affordable care to young adults by:

Allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health care plan until age 26, enabling many as 1.2 million previously uninsured young adults to gain coverage.
Expanding access to Medicaid for young adults who are unemployed or earning less than $15,000 per year. Almost 8 million uninsured young adults could benefit from this expansion of care.
Expanding access to coverage through state health insurance exchanges, a new
transparent and competitive insurance marketplace where individuals can buy affordable and qualified health benefit plans.
Providing tax credits to help pay for health insurance for young adults with income less than $43,000. Roughly three-quarters of young people ages 19-29 fall in this category and relatively few have employer-sponsored coverage.
Ending the worst abuses of insurance companies such as denying coverage based on a pre-existing condition (such as diabetes or asthma), raising rates after people get sick and canceling an existing policy to avoid paying claims.
Making it easier to compare health insurance plans online. Each state will have
responsibility for creating an exchange where individuals can go to compare affordability and performance of health plans and purchase the plan that works best for them. This new competition should help to reduce prices and improve the quality of insurance plans.

Eliminating disparities and expanding affordable access to communities of color

Americans from racial and ethnic minorities will gain much from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by improving their health coverage and access to health services. African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans make up more than half of America's uninsured.

Communities of color have higher rates of infant mortality, disease and disability than the general population and are less likely to receive the preventive screenings, regular care and necessary medications that could prevent chronic conditions.

The health law helps deliver better, more affordable care to communities of color by:

Nearly doubling the number of patients served by community health centers - which are central to providing care in many African American communities. The law provides $11 billion in funding for these centers.
Reducing discrimination in the health insurance market based upon medical history, including race, ethnicity and gender
Investing in research into the root causes of health disparities, focuses on cultural competency training for health care providers, and provides scholarships and grants to increase diversity in the healthcare workforce.
Funding new programs to prevent and control chronic disease, including incentives to provide medical homes and chronic disease management initiatives.

Benefits of the law that will help reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care include:

Expanding coverage to 32 million people who currently have no health insurance, and providing financial assistance to help those with lower incomes purchase coverage.
Improving access to primary care to ensure a regular source of care and care coordination.
Focusing on disease prevention.
Improving the cultural competency of the health care workforce.
Collecting data to better measure the effectiveness of these initiatives.
Creating a new office of Minority Health within the Department of Health and Human Services focused on addressing the factors underlying healthcare disparities within communities.