Now want to learn about your own health insurance plan?

Now that you know all about our country's health insurance system, you can get up to speed on what's actually covered in your health insurance plan.

For more information, check out this notice from Washington's Insurance Commissioner:

New health reform requirement helps consumers compare plans: A part of the federal Affordable Care Act taking effect next week requires all health plans to provide current and potential enrollees with new tools to help them understand what’s covered in the health plan and how much services will cost. Starting Sept.23, when a health plan renews or if consumers are searching for a new plan, the insurance company must provide a standard form explaining what it covers, how much specific benefits cost, and a standard glossary of health coverage and medical terms. The new Summary of Benefits form (http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/files/sbc-sample.pdf) will give:

·         Answers to important questions such as the overall deductible, if there’s an out-of-pocket limit, if clients need a referral to see a specialist and why these questions matter.

·         A list of common medical events and what clients will pay if they use a preferred provider or an out-of-network provider, and any limitations or exceptions.

·         Examples of what the plan covers and what it doesn’t cover.

·         A sample of typical coverage and costs for two conditions: Having a baby and managing type 2 diabetes.

Want to learn about health insurance, but don't know where to start?

Health care. Health insurance. Health reform. What do these words even mean? How is anyone ever supposed to learn about our health care system? I think we may have an answer.....read on.

The health care reform law is very complex and no one has the time or expertise to read through the whole law. It's actually a combination of two laws passed by Congress, so you'd have to read through this 974 page compilation of the two laws or review each of the 55 page and 2409 page bills to get through everything that we know as the Affordable Care Act.  Don't ask me how you add up a 55 page bill and a 2409 page bill to get to 974 pages - I'm not a math major.

And yet before you can even begin to understand the new law, you of course have to understand the system it was designed to change. So it's not easy, not simple, and not for the faint of heart. We've seen a few resources to help people understand the health care law (like this great Youtube video) but they don't go into many details to help your average consumer understand our current health insurance system.

I've found something that may answer some of your persistent questions: Health Insurance 101, a comprehensive, easy to read introduction to health insurance from Community Catalyst and the Center for Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University Health Policy Institute.

The website explains our current system and how the Affordable Care Act will change it. It has some disturbing information, especially the memo that details how insurance companies deliberately set out to exclude people with a chronic disease from their plans.

Now, the website only goes into the details of health insurance - it doesn't actually talk much at all about health care. But if we can understand how health care is paid for, hopefully we can get a better idea of how we can go about improving it.

Health Insurance 101. Spread the word.

When we unite, we can win.

This editorial, by two lead sponsors of the Americans with Disabilities Act, lays out a pretty convincing argument that the needs of people living with disabilities must be addressed in our national campaigns. As a huge voting bloc (57 million Americans live with a disability), the disability community should get a fair amount of attention from leading candidates for public office. However, for too long, we've been fairly un-organized and only after our narrow subset of issues. For people living with MS, that means particular attention to access to health care (like prescriptions, durable medical equpiment, physical therapy) and general accessibility within the community. Those may not be the major concerns of other people with a disability, who instead are passionate about education or other issues.

That's beginning to change. At the federal level, the disability community has long had a number of coalitions aimed at furthering the lives of people with disabilities, like the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. Here in Washington, the National MS Society teamed with other disability organizations like the Arc of Washington and the Directors of Disability Organizations to host a meeting of disability advocates on Friday, September 14. We met to see if we could start a disability coalition that would unite the concerns of all disability advocates in the state around a few important issues. If we could focus all of our united efforts on a common cause, I know we'd have a stronger impression on legislators than if we went at it alone. Stay tuned for more as this effort continues....

What do we want from our politicians?

Avid politicos likely heard mention of multiple sclerosis at both the recent Democratic and Republican National Conventions. With Ann Romney having MS, and Michelle Obama's father having MS, it's something that both major presidential candidates understand on a very personal basis. What does this mean for their political agendas? Great question. I think this recent guest commentary from Colorado raises some good points that I hope both campaigns think long and hard about.

An update on the generic only issue

This summer, the National MS Society has been closely watching the development of Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler's rules that require insurers to offer brand name prescription drug coverage rather than just coverage of generic drugs. As people with MS know, there is no generic drug to treat MS (the brand name drugs on the market will have a "generic" biosimilar in the future due to the Affordable Care Act) and so an insurance policy without brand name drug coverage is just about meaningless to someone with MS.

We sent out an Action Alert on this issue and 137 people responded - an incredible response, but one that shows how important the issue is to people with MS. MS Activists also spoke at a recent hearing in Olympina on the issue.

Along with other chronic disease organizations like the American Cancer Society and the Arthritis Foundation, we submitted a statement to Commissioner Kreidler in support of the regulations. See that statement here.

Fore more information on the issue, see this blog post or this news article that mentions multiple sclerosis as a reason why the changes needs to be made.

Over 50 Organizations, including the National MS Society, unite for a presidential campaign forum on disabilities

Here's a press release I ran across that may interest many in the MS community:

The National Forum on Disability Issues, scheduled for September 28^th in Columbus, Ohio is set to provide presidential and state candidates with the opportunity to provide their positions on a wide variety of disability issues directly to the disability community.

The Forum has also officially launched their new, interactive website, www.nfdi.org and encourages Americans with disabilities, their families and caregivers, and the organizations that serve them to visit the site and attend the Forum.

This website provides important information for attendees, sponsors, media, and all Americans concerned with where the 2012 Presidential candidates stand on issues critical to the 57 million people with disabilities in this country. The forum will be held from 12:30pm- 3:30pm EST on September 28, 2012 and will feature time slots for the candidates to share their visions for the future of disability policy. President Barack Obama and presumptive Republican Presidential candidate Governor Mitt Romney, as well as U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh Mandel, the Ohio Senate candidates, have been invited.

“The National Forum on Disability Issues, the only national Presidential event to focus on issues specific to the disability community, is a great opportunity for both President Obama and Governor Romney to make their stances on disability issues clear. Over 14.7 million Americans with disabilities voted in the 2008 election. With 1 out of every 5 Americans living with a disability today, their voices and their votes will play a critical role in the 2012 election,” said Sue Hetrick, Director of Public Policy/The Ability Center and Coordinator of the Ohio Disability Vote Coalition. “We are thrilled to launch our new website, and encourage everyone to visit it, register to attend or watch the webcast, and add your support to our call for the Presidential campaigns to come to Ohio and speak about the issues that matter the most to the disability community.”

The forum is sponsored by over 50 organizations, including:

National

• American Association for People with Disabilities
• American Association on Health and Disability
• American Diabetes Association
• American Physical Therapy Association
• Amputee Coalition
• Association of Assistive Technology Act Program
• Association of University Centers on Disabilities
• Bender Consulting
• Caring Across Generations
• Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD)
• CSAVR
• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)
• Easter Seals
• Epilepsy Foundation
• Hearing Loss Association of America
• Hemophilia Federation of America
• Jewish Federations of North America
• Jewish Funds for Justice
• Lutheran Services in America
• Mosaic
• National Association for Homecare and Hospice
• National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA)
• National Association of States United for Aging and Disability
• National Center for Learning Disabilities
• National Council on Aging
• National Council on Independent Living
• National Diabetes Association
• National Disability Rights Network
• National Down Syndrome Society
• National Federation of the Blind
• National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society
• National Organization on Disability
• National Youth Leadership Network
• Paralyzed Veterans of American
• PHI National
• Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE)
• Sibling Leadership Network
• The Access Center for Independent Living
• The Arc of the United States
• The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation
• United Cerebral Palsy
• United Spinal Association
• Yoshiko Dart

State/Local

• CareSource
• Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio
• Mary Cariola Children’s Center
• Ohio Abilities Network
• Ohio APSE
• Ohio Association of Goodwill Industries (OAGI)
• Ohio Disability Vote Coalition
• Ohio Down Syndrome Advocacy Network (ODAN)
• Ohio Olmstead Taskforce
• Ohio SILC
• The Arc of Ohio
• The Ohio State University Nisonger Center (UCEDD/LEND)
• University of Cincinnati UCEDD/LEND

For more information about the forum, please contact Sue Hetrick / 866-575-8055 / shetrick@abilitycenter.org.

For Sponsorship Information Contact: Kate Josephson / 202-776-0406 / kjosephson@ucp.org.

Want to know more about the new health care law?

Here's your opportunity. The US Department of Human & Health Services is hosting a teleconference to help you learn about www.HealthCare.gov - a great website to help you learn about the Affordable Care Act. Sign up for the August 21st webinar (11am Pacific time) here.

Other webinars can be found here, though most of them are targeted to specific regions.

If you want still more information about the Affordable Care Act, two great websites at the Kaiser Family Foundation and Families USA.

You can also learn about the National MS Society's efforts around health reform on our website.