Health Care Reform Year Two 2011

In the last edition of Hoss Cents Free Financial Magazine we took a look at changes to health care that are scheduled to take place in 2010. Today we review changes to take place in 2011.

Free annual wellness visits will be provided by Medicare along with personalized prevention programs. There will no co-pay required for preventive services under any new plan.

Beginning October 1, home and community based services for the disabled can be offered by the States through Medicaid as an option to institutionalized care.

Prescription Drug Plan or Medicare Advantage enrollees will receive a 50% discount on brand-name drugs. There will be phased in discounts on generic and brand name drugs to completely close the "doughnut hole" by 2020.

Withdrawals from health savings accounts before age 65 for non qualified medical expenses will increase to 20% from the current 10%. Archer medical savings accounts will also have a tax increase for withdrawals not used for qualified medical expenses, that increase will be from the current 15% to 20% a 5% increase.

In order to ease the administrative burden of sponsoring a cafeteria plan (small businesses, a plan will be created to enable small business to offer tax-free benefits.

There will be an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples filing jointly above $250,00. The tax increase will be 0.9%. (1.45% to 2.35%).

The Hoss hopes his ongoing summary of the health care plan helps you understand how the bill affects you in this and upcoming years..

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Health Care Reform Year One

Health Care Reform Year One

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Health Care Reform is now law. So what does this mean to you? How will you benefit? Will your taxes increase/decrease? The list of health care questions seems endless to many but fear not. The Hoss has done considerable research and over the next few post will help you determine how the Health care reform package will affect you.

We will start with the changes scheduled to take place in the current year.

Early retirees 55 to 64 will benefit from a temporary reinsurance program provided to companies with early retiree health benefits.

Both lifetime and restrictive annual limits on benefits are eliminated.

The infamous "doughnut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage for seniors will be softened with a $250 rebate.

Young adults up until their 26th birthday will be able remain on their parents' insurance. This will be beneficial to college students and others unable to find employment.

If you become ill the insurance company cannot rescind your policy, after all that is why you have insurance.

Insurance companies are now banned from imposing exclusions on children with pre-existing conditions. Pools will be established to cover those with pre-existing health conditions until such time as the health care coverage exchanges are operational.

Coverage for Preventive services without co-pays is mandatory for new plans and all plans by 2018.

An appeals process for coverage determinations and claims will be implemented by new plans.

There will be a $1,000 increase in the adoption tax credit and assistance exclusion. The credit is refundable and extends through 2011.Indoor tanning facilities will have a 10 percent tax imposed on amounts paid for services on or after July 1.

Small businesses having less than 50 employees will get tax credits covering 35 percent of their health care premiums, increasing to 50 percent by 2014.

The Hoss hopes this summary of the benefits to take place this year as a result of health care reform helps you understand how the bill affects you in 2010.

Next Hoss Cents Free Financial Money Magazine Post: Health Care Reform Year 2, 2011
Return to previous post from Health Care Reform Year One