With the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law March 23, 2010, chances are its new regulations will affect you and your family in one way or another. At a length of over 1,000 pages, the bill can be confusing and somewhat difficult to break down. In order to help clarify what the bill means for normal Americans, the main points of the bill are outlined below.

• Small Business Tax Credits: Effective immediately, the legislation offers tax credits to make purchasing healthcare for employees less expensive for small businesses. While eligibility for the tax credits depend on the size of the business and number of employees, but a tax credit of up to 35% is available for many businesses that choose to offer coverage.
• No Preexisting Conditions Exclusions: While the bill immediately eliminates exclusions for children, the new rules will apply to adults as well in 2014.
• Access to Health Coverage for the Uninsured with Pre-existing Conditions: The healthcare bills provides funding for a new insurance program designed to cover those who are currently uninsured due to preexisting conditions. This program will stay in place until the exclusion rule for adults takes effect in 2014.
• Extension of Coverage for Young Adults: Under the new law, health insurance companies are legally required to allow children to stay on their parent’s policy until the age of 26 unless they have employer offered health insurance.
• Removal of Insurance Payout Limits: Annual payout limits will be gradually phased out and will eliminate payout caps on the amount an insurance company can pay over a year or an entire lifetime.

While these five items are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the sweeping changes brought about by the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act, they represent the key changes that are most likely to affect you and your family. The changes are designed to help families and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to those in need. With that in mind, it is a good idea to reevaluate your current insurance policy and make sure that you are getting the best coverage possible for your money.

Contact us today if you have questions about your health insurance and let Bagwell Insurance Group guide you and your through the seemingly ever changing world of health insurance.

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