Affordable Care Act
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will provide coverage to 32 million uninsured people, adopt broad-reaching reforms in insurance industry practices, make major new investments in public health, and reduce the federal deficit. Health reform is expected to have a number of positive effects on the lives of children: more children will have access to health coverage and will benefit from higher quality, more comprehensive care.
- Latest Resources
- ACA News Articles
- ACA Summaries
- Medicaid and CHIP Provisions
- Private Insurance Reforms
- Data & Research
- Other Resources
Latest Resources
- May 9, 2012 HHS announces available funding for construction, renovation of school-based health centers Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability of funding for the construction and renovation of school-based health centers, while also discussing the importance of school-based health centers to children's health.
- May 9, 2012 HHS: Health law to raise Medicaid service fees Health and Human Services announced a proposed rule that would implement the Affordable Care Act's provision temporarily bringing Medicaid primary care service fees in line with those paid under Medicare. The proposed rule includes pediatric providers.
- May 8, 2012 $11.6m grants go to Boston programs serving elders, homeless The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced grants under the Affordable Care Act's innovation funding including a grant to build on the work of Children's Hospital Boston and others to expand a successful asthma care program.
- May 7, 2012 House Bill Offers Aid Cuts to Save Military Spending The House budget bill which would eliminate the Affordable Care Act's maintenance of effort provision has been passed by committee to the full House. The provision has been crucial in maintaining children's health coverage levels across the country.
- April 29, 2012 5 prevention programs being targeted The House voted to end funding for the Affordable Care Act Prevention Fund, which supports many measures focused on keeping children healthy including vaccination, suicide prevention, and tobacco prevention. This articles outlines some of these programs.
ACA News Articles
- May 9, 2012 HHS announces available funding for construction, renovation of school-based health centers Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability of funding for the construction and renovation of school-based health centers, while also discussing the importance of school-based health centers to children's health.
- May 8, 2012 $11.6m grants go to Boston programs serving elders, homeless The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced grants under the Affordable Care Act's innovation funding including a grant to build on the work of Children's Hospital Boston and others to expand a successful asthma care program.
- April 29, 2012 5 prevention programs being targeted The House voted to end funding for the Affordable Care Act Prevention Fund, which supports many measures focused on keeping children healthy including vaccination, suicide prevention, and tobacco prevention. This articles outlines some of these programs.
- April 15, 2012 Critics Say Proposed Rule Would Make Millions Ineligible For Health Insurance Subsidies Advocates are concerned the current version of Affordable Care Act regulations on subsidies to purchase in the exchange unfairly calculate affordability based on individual not family coverage, which would leave many families without access to subsidies.
- March 22, 2012 Can Individual Reforms Last Without an Individual Mandate? With the Supreme Court about to hear arguments about the constitutionality of the ACA, New Jersey's experience in the 1990s reforming its insurance market without a mandate may be indicative of the success of future insurance reform without a mandate.
- March 16, 2012 New Rule Spells Out Streamlined Medicaid Eligibility As part of new regulations released on Friday Medicaid chief Cindy Mann announced that exchanges would make initial and nearly immediate Medicaid eligibility determinations utilizing federal data sources.
- March 5, 2012 Strike the right balance on essential health benefits In this editorial, the American Medical Association urges Health and Human Services to enact requirements on essential health benefits in a way that protects children including coverage for EPSDT services.
- February 15, 2012 Getting Covered Toolkit This toolkit from Young Invincibles offers state specific and issue specific resources for young adults and families about how they can find health insurance coverage, and what they need to know about the Affordable Care Act.
- February 13, 2012 Doctors zero in on benefit gaps allowed under health reform The American Academy of Pediatrics and others are concerned that the benchmark plans states must use to determine all plans' essential health benefits under health reform are not adequate for children and are often plans which do not cover children.
- December 14, 2011 The Affordable Care Act’s ‘affordability’ paradox Federal regulations regarding affordability of health insurance and determining who is eligible for subsidies do not take into account the added cost of a family plan possibly leaving children and spouses of insured individuals without coverage.
- December 8, 2011 Affordable Care Act support for school-based health centers Will create jobs, increase access to care for thousands of children The Department of Health and Human Services announced more than $14 million in Affordable Care Act funding was awarded to 45 school-based health centers across the country, greatly increasing the capacity of such centers to provide care for children.
- November 14, 2011 Whatever Court Rules, Major Changes in Health Care Likely to Last The Supreme Court has agreed to review the Affordable Care Act, but even if it alters some portions of the act many feel large changes to the health care system are here to stay.
- October 16, 2011 Some states seek flexibility to push health-care overhaul further Many states, including several in New England, have plans for health care reform that do not fit within the formal constraints of the Affordable Care Act and are having difficulty deciding how to move forward with their planning and implementation.
- October 4, 2011 Implementing Health Insurance Exchanges: State Profiles The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a series of briefs examining the states' progress in setting up the state-based health insurance exchanges. The reports feature detailed state by state updates on exchange planning and funding.
- September 17, 2011 O. Marion Burton: Health-care law helps children, saves money In this Op-ed piece resident of the American Academy of Pediatrics lays out the many benefits for children's health Pediatricians see in the Affordable Care Act.
- August 18, 2011 Community Catalyst Medicaid Defense ALERT Community Catalyst provides advocates with resources and suggestions on how to continue the pressure on Congress to preserve medicaid in the deficit discussions.
- August 14, 2011 Extending cover to adult children has only modest impact on costs Analysis of the extension of parental coverage to young adults up to age 26 demonstrates that the cost increase of this coverage is not significant. The expansion is believed to have enrolled between 700,000 to 2.1 million new individuals.
- July 18, 2011 Health Law Bolsters Funding For In-School Clinics Last week's announcement of $95 million in grants to 278 school-based health centers is the first installment of a $200 million appropriation under the 2010 health care law.
- July 14, 2011 HHS awards first round of health reform grants for school-based health centers The government on Thursday awarded $95 million in grants to help 278 school-based health centers across the country expand and provide more healthcare services to students, their families and their communities.
- June 30, 2011 KidsWell Campaign Launches Website and Online Resource Hub for Health Reform Implementation KidsWell, a campaign dedicated to the successful implementation of federal health reform for America’s children, launched www.KidsWellCampaign.org, a website monitoring state and national health care reform implementation across the country.
- May 19, 2011 HHS Awards $4.9 Million to Support Families of Children With Special Health Care Needs HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $4.9 million in new and continuing grants to support the Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, primarily non-profit organizations run by and for families with children with special health care needs.
- May 3, 2011 At Least 600,000 Young Adults Join Parents’ Health Plans Under New Law Hundreds of thousands of young adults are taking advantage of the health care law provision that allows people under 26 to remain on their parents' health plans.
- April 6, 2011 Celebrating and Protecting Health Reform for Children A year ago President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the "Affordable Care Act"), guaranteeing access to health coverage for 32 million uninsured people in America including 95 percent of all children.
ACA Summaries
- March 19, 2012 Families with Children Brochure: The Top Five Things You Need To Know About The Affordable Care Act New brochures from the Department of Health and Human Services outline the five most important changes the ACA has made for children. The brochure is available is English and Spanish.
- February 10, 2012 Cartoon Solves Health Care Puzzler: What The Heck Is An ACO? The first in a series of CommonHealth cartoons dedicated to "helping people stay awake as they learn about important health care changes," this short feature takes on the task of explaining just what exactly an affordable care organization (ACO) is.
- November 8, 2011 Implementing the Affordable Care Act for Young Invincibles This report from Young Invincibles outlines the changes the Affordable Care Act makes for young adult coverage and provides guidance for states on how to best implement these changes.
- June 29, 2011 Health Care Reform in the States: A Snapshot (KidsWell) This issue brief serves as a point‐in‐time roll‐up of key state health care reform implementation and opposition activity.
- February 11, 2011 Summary of Key Maternal and Child Health Related Highlights with Updates on Status of Implementation (Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs) This overview goes into detail about different maternal and child health issues like prevention and public health, coverage and benefits, access and workforce.
- September 21, 2010 Early Wins for Children and Families in Health Care Reform (Georgetown University Center for Children and Families) This issue brief reviews some important early wins in health reform for children and their families.
- July 28, 2010 How Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 Affect Children? (The Urban Institute) A three-page analysis on how the ACA will affect children.
- July 9, 2010 A State Child Health Walk Through: Health Care Reform (National Academy for State Health Policy) A section-by-section analysis of the ACA's different child health provisions and effective dates.
- July 9, 2010 Health Reform for Children (The White House) A two-page overview on how the ACA gives parents greater control over their children's health care.
- May 12, 2010 Overview of Children’s Provisions in National Health Reform (NEACH) A list of some of the key provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that affect children. This legislation will improve the health care system for children and families in a number of ways.
Medicaid and CHIP Provisions
- May 9, 2012 HHS: Health law to raise Medicaid service fees Health and Human Services announced a proposed rule that would implement the Affordable Care Act's provision temporarily bringing Medicaid primary care service fees in line with those paid under Medicare. The proposed rule includes pediatric providers.
- May 7, 2012 House Bill Offers Aid Cuts to Save Military Spending The House budget bill which would eliminate the Affordable Care Act's maintenance of effort provision has been passed by committee to the full House. The provision has been crucial in maintaining children's health coverage levels across the country.
- July 23, 2010 How Health Reform Helps Low-Income Children (Families USA) This fact sheet discusses provisions that are designed to improve health coverage for America’s low-income children.
- July 21, 2010 Medicaid and CHIP - Outreach and Enrollment (Health Reform GPS) Details changes made to Medicaid and CHIP by the ACA.
- May 3, 2010 Financing New Medicaid Coverage Under Health Reform (Kaiser Family Foundation) The role of the federal government and states in financing Medicaid expansions.
- May 3, 2010 Early Medicaid Expansions Under Health Reform (Families USA) Outlines the option available to all states to expand Medicaid coverage before 2014.
- March 30, 2010 Summary of Medicaid, CHIP and Low-Income Provisions in Health Care Reform (Georgetown University Center for Children and Families) This policy brief describes some of the health reform changes to Medicaid, CHIP, and other provisions of importance to low-income families and children.
Private Insurance Reforms
- October 13, 2010 Questions and Answers on Enrollment of Children Under 19 Under the New Policy That Prohibits Pre-Existing Condition Exclusions (HHS) These questions and answers help consumers better understand the new ban on child pre-existing condition exclusions.
- June 9, 2010 Young Adults Gain New Coverage Option (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) This brief explains the details and the impact of the new policy, as outlined in regulations recently issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- May 10, 2010 Rite of Passage: Young Adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (The Commonwealth Fund) This issue brief describes critical provisions in the new law that will help young adults, including the ability to enroll in a parent’s health plan up to age 26 beginning in September 2010.
Data & Research
- March 5, 2012 Under The Affordable Care Act, 105 Million Americans No Longer Face Lifetime Limits on Health Benefits The Department of Health and Human services released a report detailing the impact of the ACA's ban on lifetime limits. The report concludes that over 27 million children have benefitted from this provision, and includes a state by state breakdown.
- December 5, 2011 Improving Coverage for Children Under Health Reform Will Require Maintaining Current Eligibility Standards For Medicaid and CHIP This report from Georgetown Center for Children and Families examines the Affordable Care Act's implications for childrens' health coverage and the important role that public programs will have in maintaining high levels of coverage.
Other Resources
- Community Catalyst Resources to get consumer advocates engaged in making health reform implementation a reality.
- Families USA: Health Reform Central A series of resources on understanding and implementing the new health law.
- Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families CCF's health reform implementation page with information on Medicaid and CHIP, Exchange coverage and tax credits, and insurance market reforms.
- Health Reform GPS A project of the George Washington University's Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Healthcare.gov The federal government's website on health care reform.
- KidsWell A state and national advocacy and organizing campaign to ensure successful implementation of health care reform on behalf of children.
