Healthcare History in the Making

As President Barack Obama used 20 different pens to left-hand to sign into law the most historic piece of healthcare legislation in our lifetimes yesterday, feelings of agony and ecstasy were emitted by millions of Americans across our great nation as the bill officially became law of the land.

While it still has to go through the Senate again for final considerations on the markups, and many states’ Attorney Generals have their lawsuits cocked back and ready to fire, a significant page in our history has been turned.

What does this mean for us this year? Well to start off, recent grads as well as May grads will be able to stay on their parent’s health insurance until their 27th birthdays as of September 2010.

Additionally, within the first year of its activation:

• Insurers will not be able to rescind policies to avoid paying medical bills when a person becomes ill
• Lifetime limits on benefits and restrictive annual limits will be prohibited
• A 10 percent tax will be imposed on amounts paid for indoor tanning services on or after July 1
• Insurers will be barred from imposing exclusions on children with pre-existing conditions. Pools will cover those with pre-existing health conditions until health care coverage exchanges are operational.

…and much more.

While many remain discontent and downtrodden with results of congressional action to sign the bill, how the bill will be paid for, and the increasing amount of government intrusion, the bill is here to stay for now. With that being said, we must hop on board the ship and reap the benefits.