Health Reform Benefits for Older Americans

 The National Senior Citizens Law Center welcomes the Patients' Bill of Rights provisions of the Affordable Care Act, that take effect today, along with other provisions securing important benefits for older Americans.

Protections Against Chronic Insurance Abuses That Plague Older Adults
No demographic group has suffered more from insurance abuses than older adults who are not yet eligible for Medicare.   Those protections include:

• Protections against common insurance industry practices that avoid covering treatment for the ill and injured
• Barring insurers from arbitrarily canceling coverage after illness or injury strikes, or that requires expensive treatment
• Barring lifetime caps on coverage amounts
• Requiring insurers to cover preventive care, such as mammograms, colonoscopies, and immunizations, with no out-of-pocket cost – no deductibles, co-payments, or co-insurance
• Denying or cancelling coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition