Residents of the state will now have a much clearer idea of the impact of the healthcare reform.
A new health insurance bill is now providing Californians with a better concept of the way that the healthcare reform will be changing the way that they purchase their coverage as of 2014.
Acupuncture will now be covered for the treatment of nausea as well as pain.
Also covered will be many forms of tobacco cessation methods in addition to vision screening. That said, the final decision has not yet been made regarding treatments from chiropractors.
The lawmakers in California have progressed health insurance bills to the governor’s desk.
These two bills have identified the various medical services which must be covered by health insurance plans when the healthcare reform requirements go into place in 2014 for the coverage of individuals and small business.
These measures were AB 1453, by Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Carmel) and SB 951, by state Senator Ed Henandez (D-West Covina). They were the bills that will provide the definition for “essential health benefits” under the Affordable Care Act, and will provide an all around transformation of the type of coverage that small businesses and residents of the state will be purchasing.
Monning explained that “It’s historic.” He pointed out that this will impact “the millions of Californians who have had limited coverage or no coverage who now will have access to coverage, and it will be comprehensive in nature. It will include preventive services, immunizations, hospitalization. The list goes on and on.”
These health insurance benefits will apply to the plans and policies that will be sold through the new state exchange, which will provide federally subsidized coverage for small businesses, individuals, and families. The plans that won’t be subsidized and that will be sold outside of the marketplace of the exchange will also be required to adhere to these regulations.
The health insurance that is being offered by employers with 50 workers or more will not need to meet these requirements, though a large number of them are already within the acceptable limits. The federal government has stated that these regulations must include services within 10 important categories, such as prescription drugs, as well as maternity and newborn care. However, the states have the responsibility of refining and defining those categories.
