The Health Care Reform law will benefit 1.3 million Arizona residents who do not currently have insurance.  For the 281,000 residents who have non-group insurance, reform will allow them to get affordable coverage through the health insurance exchange.

These numbers and more are provided on the Department of Health and Human Services website that shows how many people in each state will benefit from health care reform.

The site provides information specific to Arizona.

Under reform in Arizona:

• 1.3 million residents who do not currently have insurance and 281,000 residents who have non-group insurance could get affordable coverage through the health insurance exchange.
• 746,000 residents could qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.
• 853,000 seniors can receive free preventive services. (Begins in 2010.)
  
• 151,000 seniors will have their brand-name drug costs in the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” halved. (2011)
  
• 63,700 small businesses could be helped by a small business tax credit to make premiums more affordable. (2010)

Proposals implemented in 2010 and 2011 will produce real benefits for:

• FAMILIES: The 6.5 million residents of Arizona will benefit as reform:
  • Ensures consumer protections in the insurance market. Insurance companies will no longer be able to place lifetime limits on the coverage they provide, use of annual limits will be restricted, and they will not be able to arbitrarily drop coverage.
  • Creates immediate options for people who can’t get insurance today. 8 percent of people in Arizona have diabetes, and 25 percent have high blood pressure – two conditions that insurance companies could use as a reason to deny health insurance coverage. Reform will establish a high-risk pool to enable people who cannot get insurance today to find an affordable health plan.
  • Ensures free preventive services. 36 percent of Arizona residents have not had a colorectal cancer screening, and 19 percent of women over 50 have not had a mammogram in the past two years. Health insurance reform will ensure that people can access preventive services for free through their health plans. It will also invest in a prevention and public health fund to encourage prevention and wellness programs.
  • Supports health coverage for early retirees. An estimated 111,000 people from Arizona have early retiree coverage through their former employers, but early retiree coverage has eroded over time. A reinsurance program will stabilize early retiree coverage and provide premium relief to both early retirees and the workers in the firms that provide their health benefits.  This could save families up to $1,200 on premiums. (Begins in 2010.)
• SENIORS: Arizona’s 853,000 Medicare beneficiaries will benefit as reform:
  • Lowers premiums by reducing Medicare’s over-payments to private plans. All Medicare beneficiaries pay the price of excessive over-payments through higher premiums – even the 68 percent of seniors in Arizona who are not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. A typical couple in traditional Medicare will pay nearly $90 in additional Medicare premiums next year to subsidize these private plans. Health insurance reform clamps down on these excessive payments.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 8:54 am and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: Arizona Medicare, arizona medicare advantage, health insurance, health insurance debate, Healthcare reform, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, medicare advantage arizona, medicare advantage tucson, medicare arizona, medicare blog, medicare change, medicare changes, medicare debate, medicare tucson, tucson medicare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.