HEALTH CARE - IMMEDIATE BENEFITS

As soon as health care passes, the American people will see immediate benefits. The legislation will:

• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;


• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;


• Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;


• Lower seniors' prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;


• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;


• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;


• Require plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;


• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;


• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;


• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.