Cynematic and Donna are at the BlogHer conference this week. This is a Cynematic and Donna are at the BlogHer conference this week. This is a live blog of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who opened the pre-conference sessions at BlogHer in Chicago today with news of the long awaited roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.
“Being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition,” she said.
It will be a brand new day, she said.
The centerpiece of the ACA are the insurance markets that will be a one shop.
“We spend twice as much per capita as any country on earth and our health resulted are mediocre, on any measure,” Sebelius said.
Enrollment opens on October 1 and right now she is pushing information to consumers so for the fist time they can make better choices and get better value. This is especially important for women.
Until the ACA, “the typical policy did not include things women needed, like gestational diabetes screening, lactation services, …the Institute of Medicine recommended that we add eight categories of preventive services for women,” Sebelius said. “It is much better to help support people being healthy in the first place rather than waiting until people are acutely ill or coming through an emergency room door.”
Obamacare means offering consumers preventive care with no co-pays. Which is a big change for Americans.
“That’s a brand new day. You will be out of pocket for fewer expenses,” she said.
How can bloggers help?
Visit healthcare.gov, the department’s one stop consumer site that is where people can enroll. It’s in a kind of beta mode right now and Sebelius urged BlogHer attendees to check it out, see if it’s easy to use and give them feedback.
It has a web chat feature and 24/7 hotline where questions can be answered in 150 languages for people with questions.
Sebelius noted that Medicare already has a similar hotline that gets 126 Milan calls a year
HHS will have individuals on the ground in communities across the country to assist people who need help with applications, walk them through it.
Open enrollment starts October 1 – until March 31, 2014. And them there will be another open enrollment next year. Hopeful people won’t miss it,
Goal now is to get the information out to people who may not be paying attention or have had bad insurance experience and don’t know a out tax benefit opportunities that will make it affordable. And there have been rate reductions.
So far, don’t have all finalized but in 11 states where they are, the average reduction is 18 percent. And then people are going to have some choices on deductibles and range of plans. But all will have a range of benefits including hospital benefits, etc. companies can of lock you out because of a health condition.
What has already happened that went into effect for children is that they have to be included in coverage. And policies can no longer put in a lifetime cap on benefits. Before, you could be following all t he riles and you still ran out of money because there was a cap and that is no longer the case.
No annual cap is being phased in over time.
Every state market will open on October 1, so there will be no delays in the marketplace opening, with final rates available in September. The website will continue to be populated. If you want to leave your name and email address the I formation will be pushed out to you. Sme will be run by. HHS – some states are running their own market (CA and. NY) and some will be a partnership.
YOU will have choices and the opportunity to sign up for a policy.
Sebelius focus:
Trying to get the word out. Having the opportunity to speak to all of you is a great chance for me, so we can get the message out to people.
A laot of misinformation out there needs to be cut through. Spending a lot of time n the road answering questions and using everything from social media to traditional media
As a woman it is a very exciting day.
Medicare is really a woman’s health program, majority of beneficiaries are women and the goes up as we get older.
Part of the law has strengthened the benefits around Medicare.
Wellness visits were not part of it.
Medicare has gotten more solvent because of cost reductions in ACA.
What she learned about healthcare as governor:
Was the insurance commissioner before governor, so knows the market well, has regulated insurance companies and worked with consumers who had problems getting payments from companies. A patient protection act among other things, people disadvantaged by policies that did not work for hem
Takeover of Kansas Blue Cross discovered that the company that wanted to buy it had higher admin costs, so they kept the company within Kansas.
Healthcare costs are the nation’s biggest cause of bankruptcy. Should not be a framework for what happens in this country.
Talks to way too many people who spend their lives worried that something will happen – women who don’t get mammograms because don’t have the money for surgery if something is found. People who stay in jobs they hate because they are afraid of losing coverage.
Shame involved in healthcare issues
Women are often taking care of children, spouse, parent Nd they come last. Likely to be uninsured or underinsured because of the jobs that are available to them.
Mental health services a big missing piece in lots of policies. When we look at the country with the change in both people getting insurance and new coverage of mental health services, 62 million people will have that who don’t have it now. A brand new day.
Community conversations around the country. Part of what we have to do is talk about it. Depression is real. No one hesitates to talk about a physical condition, but still an enormous amount of fear of talking about mental health services. Part of the puzzle is coverage but part is courage to admit that this is a real issue. Recovery is real, progress is tangible but not unless you seek support. And making that Ok.
Moms afraid of making things worse for their children.
Seblius was asked about Abortion and Plan B
“Neither the government of the state of Kansas or the federal government pays for abortion services. I have always been a believer that regardless of my own religious beliefs that women have the right to what the constitution guarantees them,” she said.
“I don’t impose my views on others and that becomes difficult for some people to understand.”
Plan B has been on the markets for people in Europe for many years.
FDA approved contraceptive and there has been a debate for years over access,whether it should be OTC or prescription, clinical studies, etc. FDA approved it pursuant to a judge’s order to be OTC for all ages. Teva is changing labeling and it will be available in the near future
Some think it is an abortifacient, but that is not what the drug does.
A lively debate but it will be available in stores across this country.
Run mama run
Absolutely thinks women should run for office. We need more women making decisions on corporate boards and legislative bodies. Life experience of a woman is different than a man and that helps make better policy discussions.
My big pitch to young women is take a risk. A willingness to kick a door open, knowing your con’t know 100 percent of what you need. You won’t ever be fully ready to do anything until you do it.
Any kind of office. School board, state office, governor.
Your next step?
Get our new market up and running.
Urge us to spread the word.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPadlive blog of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who opened the pre-conference sessions at BlogHer in Chicago today with news of the long awaited roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.
“Being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition,” she said.
It will be a brand new day, she said.
The centerpiece of the ACA are the insurance markets that will be a one shop.
“We spend twice as much per capita as any country on earth and our health resulted are mediocre, on any measure,” Sebelius said.
Enrollment opens on October 1 and right now she is pushing information to consumers so for the fist time they can make better choices and get better value. This is especially important for women.
Until the ACA, “the typical policy did not include things women needed, like gestational diabetes screening, lactation services, …the Institute of Medicine recommended that we add eight categories of preventive services for women,” Sebelius said. “It is much better to help support people being healthy in the first place rather than waiting until people are acutely ill or coming through an emergency room door.”
Obamacare means offering consumers preventive care with no co-pays. Which is a big change for Americans.
“That’s a brand new day. You will be out of pocket for fewer expenses,” she said.
How can bloggers help?
Visit healthcare.gov, the department’s one stop consumer site that is where people can enroll. It’s in a kind of beta mode right now and Sebelius urged BlogHer attendees to check it out, see if it’s easy to use and give them feedback.
It has a web chat feature and 24/7 hotline where questions can be answered in 150 languages for people with questions.
Sebelius noted that Medicare already has a similar hotline that gets 126 Milan calls a year
HHS will have individuals on the ground in communities across the country to assist people who need help with applications, walk them through it.
Open enrollment starts October 1 – until March 31, 2014. And them there will be another open enrollment next year. Hopeful people won’t miss it,
Goal now is to get the information out to people who may not be paying attention or have had bad insurance experience and don’t know a out tax benefit opportunities that will make it affordable. And there have been rate reductions.
So far, don’t have all finalized but in 11 states where they are, the average reduction is 18 percent. And then people are going to have some choices on deductibles and range of plans. But all will have a range of benefits including hospital benefits, etc. companies can of lock you out because of a health condition.
What has already happened that went into effect for children is that they have to be included in coverage. And policies can no longer put in a lifetime cap on benefits. Before, you could be following all t he riles and you still ran out of money because there was a cap and that is no longer the case.
No annual cap is being phased in over time.
Every state market will open on October 1, so there will be no delays in the marketplace opening, with final rates available in September. The website will continue to be populated. If you want to leave your name and email address the I formation will be pushed out to you. Sme will be run by. HHS – some states are running their own market (CA and. NY) and some will be a partnership.
YOU will have choices and the opportunity to sign up for a policy.
Sebelius focus:
Trying to get the word out. Having the opportunity to speak to all of you is a great chance for me, so we can get the message out to people.
A laot of misinformation out there needs to be cut through. Spending a lot of time n the road answering questions and using everything from social media to traditional media
As a woman it is a very exciting day.
Medicare is really a woman’s health program, majority of beneficiaries are women and the goes up as we get older.
Part of the law has strengthened the benefits around Medicare.
Wellness visits were not part of it.
Medicare has gotten more solvent because of cost reductions in ACA.
What she learned about healthcare as governor:
Was the insurance commissioner before governor, so knows the market well, has regulated insurance companies and worked with consumers who had problems getting payments from companies. A patient protection act among other things, people disadvantaged by policies that did not work for hem
Takeover of Kansas Blue Cross discovered that the company that wanted to buy it had higher admin costs, so they kept the company within Kansas.
Healthcare costs are the nation’s biggest cause of bankruptcy. Should not be a framework for what happens in this country.
Talks to way too many people who spend their lives worried that something will happen – women who don’t get mammograms because don’t have the money for surgery if something is found. People who stay in jobs they hate because they are afraid of losing coverage.
Shame involved in healthcare issues
Women are often taking care of children, spouse, parent Nd they come last. Likely to be uninsured or underinsured because of the jobs that are available to them.
Mental health services a big missing piece in lots of policies. When we look at the country with the change in both people getting insurance and new coverage of mental health services, 62 million people will have that who don’t have it now. A brand new day.
Community conversations around the country. Part of what we have to do is talk about it. Depression is real. No one hesitates to talk about a physical condition, but still an enormous amount of fear of talking about mental health services. Part of the puzzle is coverage but part is courage to admit that this is a real issue. Recovery is real, progress is tangible but not unless you seek support. And making that Ok.
Moms afraid of making things worse for their children.
Seblius was asked about Abortion and Plan B
“Neither the government of the state of Kansas or the federal government pays for abortion services. I have always been a believer that regardless of my own religious beliefs that women have the right to what the constitution guarantees them,” she said.
“I don’t impose my views on others and that becomes difficult for some people to understand.”
Plan B has been on the markets for people in Europe for many years.
FDA approved contraceptive and there has been a debate for years over access,whether it should be OTC or prescription, clinical studies, etc. FDA approved it pursuant to a judge’s order to be OTC for all ages. Teva is changing labeling and it will be available in the near future
Some think it is an abortifacient, but that is not what the drug does.
A lively debate but it will be available in stores across this country.
Run mama run
Absolutely thinks women should run for office. We need more women making decisions on corporate boards and legislative bodies. Life experience of a woman is different than a man and that helps make better policy discussions.
My big pitch to young women is take a risk. A willingness to kick a door open, knowing your con’t know 100 percent of what you need. You won’t ever be fully ready to do anything until you do it.
Any kind of office. School board, state office, governor.
Your next step?
Get our new market up and running.
Urge us to spread the word.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
