Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) led a rally at Concord’s Senior Center on Tuesday to mark the one-year anniversary of health-care reform.
Miller was joined by local organizations supporting the law. The rally was one of many held across the country by members of Congress and supporters of health-care reform. But Miller warned that the benefits and protections of the new law are at risk of being taken away.
He pointed out that even though the law is only one year old, it already is benefiting people in his congressional district and throughout the Bay Area. “I’m determined to see this law through.”
He says that under the health-reform law signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010:
• Four million small businesses are eligible to receive federal tax credits to provide insurance to their employees. Tens of thousands of employees at small businesses have had coverage extended to them as a result.
• Young adults can stay on their parents’ health plan until their 26th birthday.
• Health insurance companies can no longer place a lifetime limit on coverage.
• Health insurance companies cannot drop coverage simply because of illness.
• Seniors on Medicare are eligible for a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs if they enter the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ coverage gap – a discount that grows until the ‘donut hole’ is closed in 2020.
• Insurance companies must spend at least 80 percent of premiums on covering medical services rather than administrative expenses, CEO pay and profits.
• Insurance companies must publish detailed justifications for any premium increases they are seeking that are more than 10 percent on the Internet.
