Families in Delaware have experienced that the price of premiums on their health plans has grown 6.3 times faster as compared to their average earnings over the last decade. The average premium that a family of four has to pay been around $1017 which also includes hidden health tax too.
The Affordability Act will ensure that families incomes less than $88,200 a year, receive subsidies on a sliding scale. This will help them purchase high quality health plans. Also when more residents of Delaware have access to health plans, then the hidden health costs per family will also decrease.
Currently, health carriers in Delaware can deny coverage if the applicant has a pre-existing condition or the insurer will approve a policy only when it excludes the coverage of that particular health condition. When the Act is implemented, this discrimination will be prohibited and no company would be able to deny coverage questioning the medical status of the resident.
More than one in four residents in Delaware remains uninsured for a period of 30 days or longer. This mostly consists of people who do not qualify for Medicaid as they are below 65 years and cannot afford to purchase a regular plan. But the scenario will change by 2019 when 66,000 residents will own health plans.
Medicaid will also be made for more flexible to make it more accessible to people from the low-income bracket. The road to owning a health plan will depend on the financial and health condition of the citizens – going in for group insurance at work, buying competitive health plans in the state-based health Exchange or owning a government sponsored Medicaid policy.
510,000 citizens in Delaware face the risk of their coverage due to medical bills crossing the annual limit and thus being compelled to pay humungous out-of pocket expenses. This will be banned when the reforms are implemented and the residents can make claims for their medical expense in spite what the annual bill is. Regulations will also be placed on how much a citizen spends from his pockets annually that will include premiums and co-pay.
Small firms, because of having to pay costlier premiums, have stayed away from providing their employees with health coverage at work. Only about 39% of the small companies in Delaware offer health coverage at work.
The Act will encourage 71,900 small businesses to offer health coverage to their employees, by providing them with tax credits. If the firm buys group health plans for the workers from state Exchange, that will make it even more cheaper.
The health reforms will enforce strict guidelines that prohibit rescission and gender discrimination when residents in Delaware look to buy health plans.
