by Mercedus Long

Created on: May 12, 2010

After years of long debates and contradicting public opinion polls, President Obama has pulled of what many past presidents have let slide. With these new changes comes fresh confusion as Americans struggle to understand what this means to them.

One of the first things people really should understand is that most of the changes will not become effective until 2014. There have been many discussions about what

Nancy Pelosi and President Obama did or did not say or do when it came to passing these much needed reforms. However, reading between the lines does nothing to describe or shed any light on what will happen in the next few years.

While we wait, we should take a look at some of the remarkable changes that will be coming. The health care reform bill seems to be taking note of the major complaints of the under or uninsured masses.

1. Uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions. For may Americans, this practice alone keeps them poor as they must bear the complete cost of medical care out of pocket. This means that even if your child has asthma, the insurance company can not deny insurance benefits for the pre-existing conditions.

2. Uninsured children are covered longer under parental policies. This helps to fix the previous problem of newly graduated college students who either unemployed or receive no insurance through their companies do not carry medical insurance. However, under the new rules children can remain covered until they are 26 years old.

3. Restricts what is called "rescission". Rescission is when the insurance company finds a reason to deny payments or cuts of coverage once you become sick.

For many Americans these are some of the key complaints regarding insurance companies. In the past the insurance companies seemed to be taking the insured for a high priced ride. Taking in thousands from you every year and paying out pennies. A study by Lewis Group a consultant owned by United Health says that for those who are paying $10K or more might see their cost reduced by about $2400. The "free lunch" of insurance companies seems to be over, or is it?

Many of those in favor of passing health reform were found of touting that it would help to insure every American in a certain time frame. However, what they failed to mention is that if you do not sign up for health insurance you can find yourself taxed. By 2016 you can be facing a fine of $695 or 2.5% of your income(Money, May 2010 vol.39 no. 4 page 70). Now this sounds vaguely like an uninsured motorist fee, right? But like an uninsured motorist fee, this is also highly practical; even if it was pushed by the insurance companies.

The reasoning is that the majority of the people who opt out of the insurance coverage will be the healthy; leaving the insurance company with a disproportionate amount of unhealthy people signed up for coverage. This will soon take its toll in more ways than one, considering insurance companies will not be able to deny anyone coverage. To prevent paying out more than they are taking in (which spells disaster for any business) the law charges you for not having coverage.

Just as before there will be some options that will differ by state or by company. However, there is to be an easy to read guide established that will make shopping for an insurance plan easier.

There are going to be many changes and some surprises as the new laws begin to come into effect. There will undoubtedly something that will not set well with someone. But when you get down to the brass tacks of things, the reform does what it has set out to do. be sure that most if not all Americans are covered by some type of medical insurance.

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