So what's up with HCR? Where are the good news stories?

As of this date, has anyone been helped? If so, shouldn't we know about it? Y'know... putting a human face on the thing or something?

(ON EDIT: I mean this politically, not literally. If people have been helped but the perception is the opposite then as a political matter perception wins.)

I am sure there will be many more people helped someday, but it isn't surprising few Dems are running on their biggest accomplishment because there doesn't seem to be any perception out there that anything has changed. All most people have seen lately on the health care front is big hikes in their premiums.

What has changed? Can the public be made more aware of it?

DU posts with people talking about how the HCR has helped them.

Meaning that if the stories are not on TV then they might as well not exist, politically.

before you can get coverage, and then the rate is not so cheap

The 6 months without has long been done.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/27/preexisting-condition-ins_n_696061.html

Just 1,200 people have been approved so far for a new program to provide insurance coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

The program, known as the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, launched in July as one of the immediate benefits of the new health care reform law, offering coverage to the uninsurable until 2014 when people should be able to choose from affordable policies available on an "exchange."

There are roughly four million people uninsured because of pre-existing conditions, and Democrats touted the new program as one of the best immediate provisions of health care reform. But the PCIP's administrators have said they expect it to reach only 350,000 over the next three years. The program is run by the federal government in 22 states and by the state government in the rest.

Kaiser Health News reported that 3,600 people have applied and about 1,200 have been approved for the PCIP. An obstacle is the program's steep premiums, which range from $140 to $900 depending on an applicant's age and location, and its requirement that people be uninsured for six months before applying (though the PCIP is still less expensive and more generous than existing high-risk pools operating in 35 states.)

"As of August 1, over 2,400 people applied for coverage in the 22 States in which the Federal government is running PCIP," said a Health Department spokeswoman in a statement to HuffPost. "About 750 applications had been approved that we were waiting for premium payments from. Over 140 people were enrolled and set to receive coverage."

Monica Buck of Oklahoma City told HuffPost she has applied for the program and is waiting to hear back. She said private insurers rejected her for being overweight. "I'm very hopeful that I get in," said Buck, 46, who said she understands her monthly premium in the PCIP would be $276. Coverage in Oklahoma will be capped at 1,500 people, according to NewsOK.

Mary Duffy of Redwood City, Calif. was disappointed to discover that her monthly premium would be $802, and that the state would not be ready for applicants until the end of the month. She is now hoping the California legislature will speed up the implementation of the exchange.

There have been many stories of how people now have insurance after doing without because of preexisting conditions, including kids. How it is helping to keep their kids on their insurance until age 26. How you can't be dumped for being sick and lifetime caps are off.

Tell everyone you know, make them aware.

If you have a pre-existing condition, the only way they could get insurance under the current plan is to be without insurance for 6 months

If you have a preexisting condition you can now get insurance that you have done without for years.

:hi:

maybe they could do it right this time

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/27/preexisting-condition-ins_n_696061.html

It is now implemented and it will become quicker for people to get coverage. Like anything else, it starts slow. And by 2014 there will be subsidies for those who can't afford the rates. I know that makes it hard for people now, but if they can hold on more help is coming.

1. Health Insurers cannot deny children health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. A ban on the discrimination in adults will take effect in 2014.

2. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will get tax credits covering up to 50% of employee premiums.

3. Seniors will get a rebate to fill the so-called "donut hole" in Medicare drug coverage, which severely limits prescription medication coverage expenditures over $2,700. As of next year, 50 percent of the donut hole will be filled.

4. The cut-off age for young adults to continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance rises to the age 27.

5. Lifetime caps on the amount of insurance an individual can have will be banned. Annual caps will be limited, and banned in 2014.

6. A temporary high-risk pool will be set up to cover adults with pre-existing conditions. Health care exchanges will eliminate the program in 2014.

7. New plans must cover checkups and other preventative care without co-pays. All plans will be affected by 2018.

8. Insurance companies can no longer cut someone when he or she gets sick.

9. Insurers must now reveal how much money is spent on overhead.

10. Any new plan must now implement an appeals process for coverage determinations and claims.

11. This tax will impose a ten percent tax on indoor tanning services. This tax, which replaced the proposed tax on cosmetic surgery, would be effective for services on or after July 1, 2010.

12. New screening procedures will be implemented to help eliminate health insurance fraud and waste.

13. Medicare payment protections will be extended to small rural hospitals and other health care facilities that have a small number of Medicare patients.

14. Non-profit Blue Cross organizations will be required to maintain a medical loss ratio -- money spent on procedures over money incoming -- of 85 percent or higher to take advantage of IRS tax benefits.

15. Chain restaurants will be required to provide a "nutrient content disclosure statement" alongside their items. Expect to see calories listed both on in-store and drive-through menus of fast-food restaurants sometime soon.

16. The bill establishes a temporary program for companies that provide early retiree health benefits for those ages 55‐64 in order to help reduce the often-expensive cost of that coverage.

17. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will set up a new Web site to make it easy for Americans in any state to seek out affordable health insurance options The site will also include helpful information for small businesses.

18. A two‐year temporary credit (up to a maximum of $1 billion) is in the bill to encourage investment in new therapies for the prevention and treatement of diseases.

Thanks for the information.

there should be no problem at the polls

... right between Costa Rica and Slovenia. Last year we were 37th. Next year the US will probably rank even worse. The insurance companies responded to the bill by gouging everybody for a 30%+ increase in premiums while decreasing benefits.

Personally, I cannot afford to go to the doctor anymore, and I have insurance. Since April my deductible went up to 6000$ per year and the insurance company wont pay a cent til the $6k is paid first. Im basically screwed. Everyone I know has a similar story.

Maybe they should have considered something in the bill that outlaws price gouging, no? It is worse now than before the bill was signed.

Please read the bill - I expect more from DUers.

The OP is about public perception and politics. The OP is not really critical of the bill itself.

There is no public perception that the bill is helpful.

And telling the people, "Read the bill - I expect more from Americans" would probably not be a winning strategy.

I think my comment is appropriate and that you're asking for the impossible.

People do not understand this would be happening anyway.

People do not understand that the reform has barely even started at this point, and that it will be years before widespread participation is possible.

Nevertheless, it is an empty bill that offers little to no reform. The main issue regarding health care was its high cost. This bill does nothing to control costs or mandate competition, so there is little to keep costs in check.

The Democrats screwed up royally on this one from day one, when they allowed Max Baucus to chair. Baucus has serious conflicts of interest, as did many others on the committee. They laughed when asked why no one supporting a public option was participating, and then had those who asked escorted out of the chamber. It was a farce. It was a disgrace. John Kerry was there as well. (Laughing.)

have done a bang-up job of blaming the raise in rates on HCR. It's going to hurt hard in a couple of months.

There is still the overly restricted state plan that will take you only if you have something potentially and quickly fatal and nothing else. The insurance companies won't have to write a plan for somebody like me for another 3 years and 3 months and even then, they won't have to cover the condition that's disqualifying me now--meaning such a policy will be an overpriced accident policy. No thanks.

However, it did do a few things like allow parents of 20 somethings to keep the kid on their policy while the kid copes with the lousy economy the Republicans created for them.

Unfortunately, the Republicans were allowed to rip enough of the guts out of reform that you aren't going to hear many happy stories because they're not going to be there. Insurance companies are still allowed to get away with murder (literally) while having no pressure to trim their bureaucracies and actually provide funding for care.

Think of the person who has to choose between paying for health insurance they don't need and can't afford, and paying for food so they don't starve. Tens of millions of them.

And then think of all the people who have been put in that position exclusively due to the major ramp-up in insurance costs that were triggered (and encouraged) by this "reform".

And then ask yourself what happens in 2020 when six years have been paid for with ten years of revenues, whether anybody not of the elite/privileged classes will have any health insurance at all.

We will live to see medicine be a black market, and not just for abortions - we will all be talking to the back alley doctor as he will be the only one with prices we can afford.

speak about it in the kind of terms and tone which you would expect would be reserved for the AIDS virus, or Satan worship, infanticide or Bolshevik Revolution.

Everyone who mentions it swears on their mother's grave to repeal it. I have yet to hear anybody wanting to take credit for it. (granted, I don't watch a lot of tv)

I hate the so called health care reform act. I fucking hate it and all involved with passing this swindle - or at least I thought I did. However, when I hear political ads on tv (which isn't that often admittedly since I don't watch broadcast/cable tv at home) I can't BELIEVE the level of anger and hatred I'm hearing. I hate the thing and feel know for a fact that the reform was deliberately hijacked and perverted by the very interests it was supposed to restrain, and even I feel a chill and alarm response in my organism when I hear the hatred level in these ads. Scary times.

but I suspect your post was made more out of spite than real inquisitivity.