Happy Annivesary, ACA

Below is my opinion editorial that ran in today's The State.
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One year on, health law helping South Carolinians

By SUE BERKOWITZ and FRANK KNAPP JR.

Guest Columnists One year ago, we were warned that national health-care reform would impose new taxes, fees and mandates on small businesses, increasing their health-insurance costs. Under this financial pressure, there would be more uninsured due to massive worker layoffs and small-business failures.

Today the Affordable Care Act turns one year old, and small businesses are now realizing that there are not now nor will there be insurance mandates, new taxes or fees for businesses with 50 or fewer employees (97 percent of all S.C. businesses). The vast majority of the larger businesses (97 percent) already offer insurance.

Insurance companies nationwide are reporting dramatic increases in small businesses offering health insurance to employees because the law provides health-insurance tax credits for companies with fewer than 25 workers (88 percent of S.C. businesses). Economic reports show that most of the job growth in the country this year is coming from small and medium-size businesses, and a recent survey indicates that small businesses plan to add nearly 3.8 million jobs in 2011. Bottom line: There is no negative impact on small-business growth.

But the good news isn’t just for small businesses. The ACA is helping children, adults and seniors too.

Approximately 91,000 South Carolinians who have been turned down for health insurance because of a pre-existing condition are now eligible for affordable coverage through the law’s new high-risk pool operated by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children with pre-existing conditions no longer can be denied coverage.

More than 18,000 young adults in our state are projected to benefit from the provision allowing them to stay on their parent’s health insurance plan until age 26. This is giving peace of mind to parents to know that their children will have coverage in this economy where young adults are having trouble finding jobs.

Seniors are big winners under the law as well. Nearly 47,000 S.C. seniors received $250 rebate checks to offset prescription costs after they reached the Medicare doughnut hole in 2010. This year, drug companies must give seniors a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs when the doughnut hole is reached. Our 714,000 South Carolinians on Medicare also now receive free annual check-ups and no co-pays for important preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies.

The Affordable Care Act also is benefiting privately insured South Carolinians by ending some of the worst insurance company practices. Insurance companies are now banned from dropping coverage when you get sick. Lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will spend on your health care are now prohibited, and annual limits are being phased out. All new private health insurance plans must fully cover preventive care services such as mammograms, annual check-ups and colorectal exams.

The law also requires health insurance companies to use your premium dollars mostly for your health-care services. Only 15 percent to 20 percent of South Carolinians’ premiums now are allowed to go toward such things as marketing, salaries, commissions, administrations and profit, compared to approximately 40 percent in 2010.

The Affordable Care Act has been extraordinarily beneficial to South Carolinians and all American citizens during its first year without causing a dramatic rise in premiums — just 1 percent according to one insurance company executive.

The future benefits are just as bright and brighter. When fully implemented in 2014, the vast majority of Americans finally will have affordable health insurance. The S.C. Department of Insurance has received millions of dollars in planning-grant funds to move forward on implementation. Even Republican and Democratic legislators are cooperating on implementation plans.

Happy anniversary, Affordable Care Act.
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Ms. Berkowitz is director of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center. Mr. Knapp is president and CEO of the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce. Both organizations are founding partners of S.C. Health Care Voices.

© 2011 TheState.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thestate.com

For the sake of small business "Repealers" should repent

As my friend Sue Berkowitz, Director of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center, said in an email, “What took them so long?”

Sue was reacting to the news yesterday that the House Republicans will begin a floor debate on repealing the Affordable Care Act (the ACA is healthcare reform for those still looking for a more catchy title) this Friday with a final vote set for January 12th.

But while Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor feed their base with a doomed repeal effort, the Small Business Majority released an eye-opening survey today of small business owners. The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance tax credits and insurance exchanges for small businesses will do exactly what was intended—encourage small businesses to offer employer-based health insurance because it will be more affordable.

Key findings of the survey:

• One-third (33%) of employers who don’t offer health insurance said they would be more likely to do so because of the small business tax credits.

• 31% of respondents—including 40% of businesses with 3-9 employees—who currently offer insurance said the tax credits will make them more likely to continue providing insurance.

• One-third (33%) of respondents who currently do not offer insurance said the exchange would make them more likely to do so.

• The same is true for those who already offer insurance, with 31% responding that the exchange would make them more likely to do so.

And just for the record, 41% of the small business owners randomly surveyed identified themselves as Republicans with 27% and 21% saying that they were independents and democrats respectively.

This positive impact of the ACA has also shown up in insurance companies reporting increased numbers of small businesses now offering health insurance due to the health insurance tax credits that went into effect this year.

However, the most distressing result of the survey was that “most respondents are not familiar with the exchange or the tax credits; only 31% of respondents are familiar with the exchange and 43% are familiar with the tax credits.”

Had the critics of the ACA put as much effort into educating the public about the benefits of the ACA for small business and the public as they have in demonizing it with misinformation largely for political purposes, we would have far fewer uninsured Americans today. But that is the price the country is paying due to the partisanship of politicians.