All but Ariz. take steps to implement ACA

[No Elephants]

All but Ariz. take steps to implement ACA

Published: March. 22, 2012 at 1:58 AM

NEW YORK, March 22 (UPI) -- All U.S. states and the District of Columbia, except Arizona, have begun to implement the Affordable Care Act, a report by a non-profit group said.

The report -- Implementing the Affordable Care Act: State Action on Early Market Reforms, by Katie Keith, Kevin W. Lucia and Sabrina Corlette of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute's Center on Health Insurance Reforms -- assessed the action of the states on 10 early reforms, including those known collectively as the Patients' Bill of Rights, that went into effect in September 2010.

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The report also found the states approved legislative or regulatory action including:

-- Expanding dependent coverage for young adults up to age 26.

-- Prohibiting lifetime limits on health benefits.

-- Phasing out annual dollar limits on health benefits.

-- Prohibiting preexisting condition exclusions for children under age 19.

-- Prohibiting cancelling insurance.

-- Covering preventive services without cost-sharing.

-- Expanding coverage of emergency services.

-- Allowing choice of primary care provider.

-- Allowing choice of pediatrician.

-- Allowing access to obstetricians and gynecologists without a referral.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/03/22/All-but-Ariz-...


I wish the Act had been given a name that reduced nicely to a desirable sounding acronym, as Dummya was fond of doing. That is not on the same level as my wish for single payer or a strong public option or limits on what insurers can charge, but failing any of those things, a near acronym would have been good.