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HEALTH COVERAGE TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
offer free or low-cost health coverage to children and families.
- If you are eligible for health coverage from your employer, but are unable to afford the premiums, some States have premium assistance programs that can help pay for coverage. These States use funds from their Medicaid or CHIP programs to help people who are eligible for employer-sponsored health coverage, but need assistance in paying their health premiums.
- If you or your dependents are already enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, and you live in a state offering assistance (Florida), you can contact the Children's Health Insurance Plan or your State Medicaid office to find out if premium assistance is available.
- If you or your dependents are NOT currently enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, and you think you or any of your dependents might be eligible for either of these programs, you can contact any of the groups listed here to find out how to apply. If you qualify, you can ask the State if it has a program that might help you pay the premiums for an employer-sponsored plan:
- Contact the State Medicaid Office
- Contact the Children's Health Insurance Plan
- Contact INSURE KIDS NOW by calling 1-877-Kids-Now (1-877-543-7669)
- Once it is determined that you or your dependents are eligible for premium assistance under Medicaid or CHIP, your employer’s health plan is required to permit you and your dependents to enroll in the plan – as long as you and your dependents are eligible, but not already enrolled in the employer’s plan. This is called a “special enrollment” and you must request coverage within 60 days of being determined eligible for premium assistance.
- As a Florida resident, you may be eligible for assistance paying your employer health plan premiums.
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Health Reform in Florida
Health reform has passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, there are differences between the Senate version of the bill and the House version of the bill. Both chambers will elect members to convene a conference to reconcile differences between the two versions of the bill. The new version of the bill that emerges from the conference must then be voted on again by each chamber. If the bill is approved by both chambers, the president may sign the final version turning it into law.
To answer how the bill will affect Floridians, the government web site, www.healthreform.gov has listed several elements from both bills that benefit individuals and families in Florida, such as:
- Insurance companies will no longer be able to place lifetime limits on the coverage they provide, use of annual limits will be restricted, and they will not be able to arbitrarily drop coverage.
- 10 percent of people in Florida have diabetes, and 28 percent have high blood pressure – two conditions that insurance companies could use as a reason to deny health insurance coverage. Reform will establish a high-risk pool to enable people who cannot get insurance today to find an affordable health plan.
- Roughly 565,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Florida hit the “doughnut hole,” or gap in Medicare Part D drug coverage that can cost some seniors an average of $4,080 per year. Reform legislation will provide a 50 percent discount for brand-name drugs in this coverage gap.
- Without reform, individuals and families in Florida will spend increasing amounts of money out-of-pocket to cover premiums, deductibles, and co-payments, from $19.4 billion today to up to $35.4 billion in 2019. Through health insurance reform, 2.5 million Florida residents could be eligible for premium credits to ease the burden of these high costs.
- Health insurance reform will create a new voluntary long-term care services insurance program, which will provide a cash benefit to help seniors and people with disabilities obtain services and supports that will enable them to remain in their homes and communities.
Below is a message about health reform from the Secretary of Health & Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius.
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Showing posts with label florida residents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label florida residents. Show all posts
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