Main description:

Health Care Reform Simplified: What Professionals in Medicine, Government, Insurance, and Business Need to Know describes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the individual mandate and other key parts of the law-what must busy healthcare professionals, insurance industry professionals, business and HR managers, and policymakers do?

First, read this book. It translates the law's complex language into terms that are easy to understand, explaining what the new law does, when its provisions take effect, and how to implement it. This brand-new second edition also updates all the provisions and explains the myriad ways the ACA is already being put into practice.

Health Care Reform Simplified, Second Edition, outlines the financial impact of the law and how it affects businesses, insurers, hospitals and doctors, and state and local governments. Most important, this book gives consumers and employers critical information for making informed choices about new options for private and public health insurance coverage. It also describes how the law interacts with Medicare and Medicaid. Finally, it looks at the potential roadblocks-political, judicial, and economic-that may yet derail some of the provisions. But with more than half of the Act's provisions in force already, and the Supreme Court's landmark decision upholding the law, there is no time to lose in understanding how the legislation affects you whether you are a consumer or deliverer of health care in the U.S. This book:

Explains health reform in easy-to-understand terms
Shows how the law is playing out in the real world
Explains the ways the law or parts of it yet may be repealed by the 2012 election and the implications for readers
Provides HR professionals and managers options for covering employees while explaining costs and benefits
Details the impact on medical professionals and insurers and steps they must take now to comply with the law
Shows policymakers the way forward now that legal challenges have abated

This edition, completely updated to incorporate the newest regulations and the practices that have been put into place in various states, will prove an indispensable guide for those implementing the law, as well as those receiving health care, in the coming years.

Contents:

Introduction (4 pages)

A quick look at the American health care system, the most expensive medical system on earth, and what's wrong with it.

Chapter 1. History of Health Care in the U.S. (20 pages)

* A quick history of health care insurance.

* America's breathtaking rise of medical care costs.

* Growth of Medicare and Medicaid.

* Political primer on health care reform.

* Passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and continuing political and judicial threats (more in Chapter 11)

* Supreme Court Decision on the ACA (more in Chapter 11)

* Health care reform summary, schedule.

Chapter 2. Early Changes (16 pages)

* Temporary exchanges.

* New insurance guarantees for children.

* Young adults get extension on parents' policies.

* Insurance rate reviews.

* Bans on cutting and capping coverage.

* Filling Medicare's donut hole.

* "Sin tax" on tanning services.

* Tax breaks for small businesses.

Chapter 3. New Personal Insurance Options (20 pages)

* Grandfathered policies.

* Insurance exchanges.

* Individual mandate.

* Pre-existing conditions.

* Rights to appeal, choose doctor and preventive care.

* Tax credits.

Chapter 4. Insurance Options for Businesses (20 pages)

* Early tax credits for small businesses.

* Requirements for coverage and penalties.

* Small business insurance exchanges.

* Early retirees.

Chapter 5. Changes in Insurance Market Rules, Regulations (18 pages)

* Medical loss ratios.

* Guaranteed coverage.

* Limits on rate variations.

* Minimum coverage, preventive care.

* Insurance co-ops.

* Accountable Care Organizations.

Chapter 6. Changes to Medical Practices (18 pages)

* Medical errors.

* Hospital readmission rates.

* Medical homes.

* Accountable Care Organizations.

* Doctor shortages.

* Evidence based practice.

* Safety net hospitals.

* Financial disclosure rules for doctors.

Chapter 7. Medicare Outlook (10 pages.)

* Where Medicare stands and how it works.

* Medicare savings estimates.

* Quality controls

* Cost cutting

* Medicare Advantage plans.

* Long-term projections for Medicare.

* Medicare reform proposals.

Chapter 8. Medicaid Outlook (10 pages)

* Where Medicaid stands and how it works.

* Supreme Court ruling.

* Planned Medicaid expansion.

* State-by-state impact.

* Long term care.

* Medicaid waivers for co-pays and other experiments.

Chapter 9. Communicating Changes to the Public (10 pages)

* Misconceptions.

* Health literacy.

* Provisions for bridging communication gaps.

* New sources of information.

* Nutritional labels.

Chapter 10. The Cost and Who Pays (10 pages)

* Medicare tax increase.

* Cadillac insurance tax.

* Private insurance tax.

* Pharmaceutical company tax.

* Medical device tax.

* Other revenue sources.

Chapter 11. Efforts to Repeal Reform (10 pages)

* Supreme Court ruling and individual mandate.

* Continuing lawsuits.

* Republican efforts at repeal and replacement.

* Health care under Ryan budget.

* States oppose and implement reforms at the same time.

* Future of health care reform.

Bibliography

Index