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Bill Summary

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To everyone who would like a rundown on the health care bill.  This review comes from the Wall Street Journal.
 
People need to understand the promise that their premiums will not increase will be the first of many to be broken.  Adding higher risk groups to the standard risk groups will cause the standard risk group premiums to rise, because there are no alleviating factors, there are no cost controls.   Those who expect to have insurance will remain uninsured until 2014.
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WSJ article
The $940 billion health-care overhaul will take nearly a decade to roll out in full. A look at the key parts of the bill and when they go into effect.

2010 Coverage
Subsidies begin for small businesses to provide coverage to employees.
Insurance companies barred from denying coverage to children with pre-existing illness.

Children permitted to stay on their parents' insurance policies until their 26th birthday.

2011 Coverage
Set up long-term care program under which people pay premiums into system for at least five years and become eligible for support payments if they need assistance in daily living.

Taxes and fees
Drug makers face annual fee of $2.5 billion (rises in subsequent years).

2013 Taxes and fees
New Medicare taxes on individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and couples filing jointly earning more than $250,000 a year.

Tax on wages rises to 2.35% from 1.45%.

New 3.8% tax on unearned income such as dividends and interest.

Excise tax of 2.3% imposed on sale of medical devices.

Cost control
Medicare pilot program begins to test bundled payments for care, in a bid to pay for quality rather than quantity of services.

2014 Coverage
Create exchanges where people without employer coverage, as well as small businesses, can shop for health coverage. Insurance companies barred from denying coverage to anyone with pre-existing illness.

Requirement begins for most people to have health insurance. Subsidies begin for lower and middle-income people. People at 133% of federal poverty level pay maximum of 3% of income for coverage. People at 400% of poverty level pay up to 9.5% of income. (Poverty level currently is about $22,000 for a family of four.)

Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, expands to all Americans with income up to 133% of federal poverty level.

Subsidies for small businesses to provide coverage increase. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees and average annual wages of less than $25,000 receive tax credit of up to 50% of employer's contribution. Tax credits phase out for larger businesses.

Taxes and fees
Employers with more than 50 employees that don't provide affordable coverage must pay a fine if employees receive tax credits to buy insurance. Fine is up to $3,000 per employee, excluding first 30 employees.

Insurance industry must pay annual fee of $8 billion (rises in subsequent years).

Cost control
Independent Medicare board must begin to submit recommendations to curb Medicare spending, if costs are rising faster than inflation.

2016 Taxes and fees
Penalty for those who don't carry coverage rises to 2.5% of taxable income or $695, whichever is greater.

2017 Coverage
Businesses with more than 100 employees can buy coverage on insurance exchanges, if state permits it.

2018 Taxes and fees
Excise tax of 40% imposed on health plans valued at more than $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage
 
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