The Affordable Care Act in Alabama

The Affordable Care Act, the new health care law, is making a positive difference in our health care system. I have written about this before, but the following was sent by Jon Carson, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Just this week, the Obama Administration made three announcements about how the new law is helping people in Alabama. Thanks to the health care law: 3.1 Million More Young Adults Have Health Insurance: Thanks to the health care law, young adults can stay on their parent's health plan until age 26. This week, we announced that 3.1 million people who would have been uninsured - including 49,000 in Alabama - have gained coverage through this new benefit. Learn more here.

Community Health Centers are Stronger: Community health centers work to improve the health of the nation by ensuring access to quality primary health care services. The health care law has helped community health centers serve millions of additional patients. This week, your state health centers received $2,808,333 in new grants that will help them serve 15,669 additional patients. Nationwide, these grants will ensure nearly 1.3 million more patients get high quality health care and will help support approximately 5,640 jobs. Learn more about these grants here.

You are Getting a Better Value for Your Health Care Dollar: The new health care law created the 80/20 rule, which requires that health insurers spend at least 80 percent of your health care premiums on health care or improvements to care or they must refund you the difference. This is also known as the medical loss ratio. In Alabama, 13,600 residents will benefit from a total of $4.2 million in rebates this summer, or an average of $518 for each family covered by a policy. Overall, 12.8 million Americans will be benefiting from $1.1 billion in rebates from insurance companies this summer. Learn more about this announcement here.

Republicans want to do away with all of these benefits and more.