Below are links to a series of new HHS brochures and materials related to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
 
· Patient Protections & Insurance Reforms
· Poster: Are You Eligible for the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan?
· The Affordable Care Act — What it Means for Those with Pre-Existing Conditions
· Medicare and the New Health Care Law — What it Means for You
· Closing the Prescription Drug Coverage Gap

For questions or comments on any of these, you can email HHSIGA @ hhs.gov.

For our friends in the Bay Area: the San Francisco Health Care Access Booklet has been revised for 2010 and can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/34xbsqk.

This booklet summarizes key health care resources in San Francisco and includes detailed eligibility criteria. This guide should be especially useful for staff who work with low-income clients needing health care services. Note: this book is an informational tool geared toward staff; it is not written for clients (and is only available in English).

For more, of if you have questions, contact Frances Culp, Senior Health Program Planner at San Francisco Department of Public Health, at Frances.Culp @ sfdph.org.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal against Healthy San Francisco, essentially securing the legality of the city's universal health care program. Created in 2006, Healthy SF provides health care for 53,000 San Francisco residents who lack private insurance and are not eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. To pay for the coverage, businesses with at least 20 workers that do not provide insurance to their workers must give part of their wages to the city to pay for the $200 million program.

The Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the entity that originally brought the law suit, argued (a) that the city is not authorized to compel companies to pay for the health benefits of its workers, and (b) that it is not lawful to require owners to pay into the city health care pool due to the fact that federal law generally prohibits state and local interference in the area of benefits that offered to employees. By choosing to not hear the case, the Court in essence nullified the Restaurant Association's arguments.

The Obama administration recommended the court turn down the case in part because the recently enacted national health care reform would make it less likely that other places would create programs similar to that of San Francisco. Yet the general consensus is that Healthy San Francisco will remain a necessary component of the city’s health care system due to the fact that the national plan excludes some populations of Americans, including undocumented workers, eligible for coverage under the San Francisco plan.

For more on the case and the Court's decision, see recent articles in the San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press.

Here is the October issue of the ITUP Federal Reform Newsletter, and the topics covered are:

Health insurance affordability
The potential perils of a Health Insurance Exchange
Part 2 of the consequences of reform failure

Also check out this important brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, that estimates an additional 4 million Californians will be covered under the current health reform proposals through Medicaid expansion and premium subsidies. Nearly 20% of Californians are currently uninsured (probably more given the economic climate) and the analysis estimates expansion to 93% of the population. This expansion alone would constitute more individuals than the ENTIRE state population represented by any member of the "Gang of Six."

Here is the September issue of the ITUP Federal Reform Newsletter, and it explores the following reform topics:

Value Based Purchasing (quality, not quantity)
Premium Rating (not paying more because you are sick)
Prevention (health care, not sick care)

Check it out!

Here is the third installment of the ITUP Health Reform Newsletter, which investigates the effects of reform on small business, the health cooperatives alternative, and some stats on what the American health care system would look like without reform.

Here is the link to the 2nd federal reform newsletter, which briefly analyzes variations to the Public Plan and assesses the potential roles of a Health Insurance Exchange. You can also find it on the main ITUP page, along with links to more extensive summaries of the House and Senate bills.

Check out my newsletter, which is meant to provide some additional insight into federal reform efforts!

In other news, Speaker Pelosi has pledged that the House will not go into the recess next month until a comprehensive bill is passed, and was explicit that the bill will NOT include taxing health benefits for revenue. She also called on, and I quote, the "Three Tenors" (aka Tri-Committee Chairmen), to cut the costs of the bill. Political metaphors never cease to amaze me.