President Obama discusses health care reform and the Patient's Bill of Rights in Virginia. 'Patient's Bill of Rights' kicks in

Starting this month, health insurance companies can no longer cancel your policy if you get cancer or refuse to cover your child because of a pre-existing condition. A key feature of the new health reform law — signed by President Barack Obama six months ago — is a Patient’s Bill of Rights. It cracks down on the worst abuses of health insurance companies and gives Americans important new protections.

On Sept. 23, the law’s six-month anniversary, six major reforms kicked in. Now, the law :


•Bans insurance companies from dropping patients’ coverage. Previously, insurers used technicalities to cancel coverage retroactively for patients who contracted serious illnesses. One big insurer specifically targeted women diagnosed with breast cancer. Many insurers rewarded employees with bonuses based on the number of canceled policies and the money saved.This is now illegal.

•Bans denial of coverage for children with pre-existing conditions. Job-based health plans and new individual plans are no longer allowed to deny or exclude coverage for children younger than 19 based on a pre-existing condition, including a disability.

•Cracks down on benefit payment limits. Insurance companies are prohibited from imposing lifetime dollar limits on essential benefits, such as hospital stays. Restrictions are now imposed on using annual limits.

•Provides for appeal of insurance company decisions. If you purchase a new policy, you can appeal insurance company decisions to an independent third party.

•Guarantees free preventive care. All new plans must cover certain preventive services, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, without charging a deductible, co-pay or co-insurance.

•Extends coverage for young adults. Young adults are now allowed to stay on their parents’ plan until 26.

These new benefits and protections will have profound benefits for people across America. I recently learned about the case of a young Iowan. During her first year at college, she had to have multiple surgeries because of Crohn’s disease and was forced to drop all her classes. In turn, her health insurer canceled her policy. Four years and seven surgeries later, she was $180,000 in debt and forced to file for bankruptcy.

This is exactly the kind of heartbreaking, destructive predicament that the Affordable Care Act and its Patient’s Bill of Rights are designed to prevent. The new law is ushering in landmark changes in America’s health care system.

As many predicted, the law is increasingly popular as Americans get better acquainted with its broad range of benefits and consumer protections. Forty-nine percent of Americans now view the new law favorably, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s September Health Tracking Poll, versus 40 percent unfavorably. This positive showing is all the more impressive considering that, according to that same poll, gross misconceptions sown by the law’s opponents still persist. Three in 10 seniors still believe that the law creates government “death panels” to make decisions about end-of-life care for Medicare recipients.

Health reform is off to a strong start — ensuring an array of protections and benefits that put people ahead of profits. What’s more, Americans now realize that they face a stark choice. On the same day that the Patient’s Bill of Rights went into effect, Republican members of Congress held a major event promising to repeal it and put health insurance companies back in the driver’s seat — free to abuse policyholders and discriminate against the sick.

Just last week, the Senate defeated a resolution aiming to nullify health reform regulations that preserve stability in insurance markets, give businesses flexibility and ensure consumer protections in health insurance markets. This was the congressional Republicans’ second attempt in their campaign to undermine the law. We know there is more to come.

During the Senate debate last week, Republicans claimed that implementing the law will require more pages of regulations than were in the original bill. No sensible person judges a bill’s merits by the pages of regulations needed to implement it. Since the Republicans can’t identify a credible source for their claim, one can only assume it was made up — by the health insurance industry.

Congressional Republicans have also threatened to defund key provisions in the health reform law. They are going to face stiff resistance from the majority of senators, who support the new law.

Just as important, the Republicans will have to reckon with opposition from their own constituents — and from people across the country already attached to the benefits and consumer protections in this landmark legislation.

Mark my words: Americans will not allow their hard-earned benefits and protections to be taken away. We will stay the course, defending the strong reforms in this new law and creating a reformed insurance and health care system that works not just for the healthy and the wealthy but for all Americans.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.