New Health Care Law: How It Will Help RI Children
Monday, September 27, 2010
Several provisions of the new health care law that went into effect last week will benefit Ocean State children, according to Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, a local advocacy organization.
According to a KIDS COUNT analysis of the law, five provisions that went into effect will benefit Rhode Island children:
• preventive services and wellness care for children have to be free under new health insurance plans
• insurers cannot deny coverage for children with pre-existing conditions
• young adults up to the age of 26 can be covered under their parents’ plans
• lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will cover if a child gets sick will be eliminated
• insurance companies will not be able to drop children from a plan if they get sick
(Click here to read more.)
The latest U.S. Census data shows that the number of uninsured children in Rhode Island has been on the rise, increasing to 18,000 by 2009. That increase is a result of the recession, according to KIDS COUNT Executive Director Elizabeth Burke Bryant. As more people lose their jobs, the health insurance that came with them has gone away too, causing their children to lose coverage, Bryant told GoLocalProv.
She said the new health care law will help reduce the number of uninsured children. It will also reinforce the state’s Medicaid insurance program, known as RIte Care, which covers many children whose families otherwise couldn’t afford it.
“We feel as though in Rhode Island we have a very successful health insurance model to build on, which is the RIte Care health insurance program,” Bryant said. Bryant said the lessons learned from the implementation of RIte Care in Rhode Island can become a model for how health insurance reform is implemented nationwide.
Related Articles
- Is your health insurance plan really health insurance?
- RI Reacts to Health Insurance Rate Increases
- UPDATED Gov. Candidates: Health Insurance Rate Hikes ‘Outrageous’
- AG Candidates Decry Health Insurance Rate Hikes
- Health Insurance Hikes: Candidates Speak Out
- Hospitals Worried About Health Insurance Decision
- More RI Children Don’t Have Health Insurance
