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Arizonans get some relief in wake of Republicans’ massive health care cuts

ARIZONA HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix (District 15)

www.azhousedemocrats.com www.strongerarizona.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sarah Muench
July 14, 2010
(602) 926-5848
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Arizonans get some relief in wake of Republicans’ massive health care cuts
Preventive health treatments to be easier to access thanks to federal health care law

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – More Arizonans will be able to make routine doctor visits to head off potentially serious conditions thanks to the Obama Administration’s finalization of rules developed after the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

The federal departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury issued new regulations on Wednesday, requiring new private health plans to cover evidence-based preventive services and eliminate cost sharing requirements for such services.

The new rules will help Americans gain easier access to services such as blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests; many cancer screenings; routine vaccinations; pre-natal care; and regular wellness visits for infants and children.

“Arizonans this year were hit the hardest when Republicans and Gov. Jan Brewer kicked 400,000 kids, adults and seniors off of health care and voted to be the only state in the nation to eliminate health care for children,” said Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema, a member of the White House Health Reform Task Force. "I am pleased with the new rules, which will allow women to get the mammograms they need to prevent breast cancer, kids to be immunized and our state to reduce costs all at the same time.”

After Brewer and Republicans made massive cuts to health care this year, Democrats restored health care for children, and the new health care law restored health care for Arizonans.

Preventable and treatable chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in the United States and the leading cost drivers in our health care system. According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease and stroke, are the first- and third-leading causes of death for both men and women and account for more than one-third of all American deaths. The total cost of heart disease and stroke was estimated to be more than $448 billion in 2008.

“Primary care providers have the tools to help prevent disease, but we are all ultimately responsible for lowering the costs of health care in this nation,” Sinema said. “By kicking hundreds of kids, adults and seniors off of health care, Brewer and Republicans only keep pushing Arizona down the wrong track and drive up our deficit.”
Under the regulations issued Wednesday, new health plans beginning on or after September 23, 2010, must cover preventive services that have strong scientific evidence of their health benefits, and these plans may no longer charge a patient a copayment, coinsurance or deductible for these services when they are delivered by a network provider. Specifically, these recommendations include:

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Affordable Care Act

Talking Points: Implementing the Affordable Care Act

Three months ago this week, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. As a result of that law, families and small businesses across the country will be able to save money by purchasing health care more affordably; our national long-term structural deficit will be reduced; millions of uninsured Americans will finally be able to get the coverage and the care they need; and all Americans can count on more stability and greater control of their health care decisions as a result of new consumer protections.While the law will not be fully implemented for a few years, many of the benefits of reform are already coming to Americans. For example:

• Last month, four million small business owners across the country were notified about their potential eligibility this year for a health care tax cut worth tens of thousands of dollars that could help them to cover the cost of insurance for their employees.
• This month, tens of thousands of eligible seniors began receiving $250 rebate checks from the federal government to help them purchase prescription medications that fall within the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole. By the end of the year, it is estimated that 4 million seniors will receive such checks. And by 2020, the Affordable Care Act will close the donut hole entirely.
• Beginning this year, young adults without insurance of their own will be able to remain on their parents’ health insurance through age 26. Health insurance companies are required to make that change by September, but many have already done so, helping young Americans across the country to avoid a costly coverage gap.
• And this July 1st, uninsured Americans with a preexisting condition will gain the ability to enroll in a new, national insurance pool where they can purchase quality, affordable health care – perhaps for the first time in their life.

In addition, the President today announced that, under the Affordable Care Act, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury will be issuing new regulations that will end some of the worst practices of the insurance industry and put in place the strongest consumer protections in history. As a result, every American will finally be able to count on a real Patient’s Bill of Rights.

That Bill of Rights is long overdue, and it is a victory for every American. It is not intended to punish insurance companies, but will instead establish basic rules that will make the American health care system more consumer-friendly and cost-effective, finally enabling every American to rest easy in the knowledge that their health insurance will be there when they need it.

In particular, beginning this December, some of the insurance industry’s most abusive practices will be brought to a timely end. Specifically:

• Insurance companies will no longer be able to discriminate against children with preexisting conditions or deny them coverage.
• Insurance will no longer be able to rescind an individual’s coverage when they get sick, even if they made an unintentional mistake on their insurance application.
• Insurance companies will no longer be able to cap lifetime coverage or establish restrictive annual limits.
• And the barriers that currently exist between the American people and their doctors will be torn down – Americans will be able to keep the primary care doctor or pediatrician they choose.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of President Obama and Democrats in Congress to ensure Americans have stability, security, and access to care, the Republican Party still opposes any change to the status quo. They want to repeal health insurance reform and return America to the broken system we had before.

The President refuses to let that happen. He won’t let America go back to a system that allowed insurance companies to discriminate against sick children; to strip away individuals’ coverage when they got sick; and to place lifetime limits on health care, preventing Americans from getting care when they needed it most. He will do everything in his power to protect Americans’ new, hard-won health care rights.

The Obama administration has launched a new healthcare website!

Newsletter and Website Events Guidelines

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The Gulf Coast

A Message from President Obama:

Yesterday, I visited Caminada Bay in Grand Isle, Louisiana -- one of the first places to feel the devastation wrought by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While I was here, at Camerdelle's Live Bait shop, I met with a group of local residents and small business owners.

Folks like Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation oyster fisherman. This is the time of year when he ordinarily earns a lot of his income. But his oyster bed has likely been destroyed by the spill.

Terry Vegas had a similar story. He quit the 8th grade to become a shrimper with his grandfather. Ever since, he's earned his living during shrimping season -- working long, grueling days so that he could earn enough money to support himself year-round. But today, the waters where he has worked are closed. And every day, as the spill worsens, he loses hope that he will be able to return to the life he built.

Here, this spill has not just damaged livelihoods. It has upended whole communities. And the fury people feel is not just about the money they have lost. It is about the wrenching recognition that this time their lives may never be the same.

Read more...

Important Election Info

We're encouraging all voters to join the Permanent Early Voter List which allows us to easily vote...-by-mail, or complete the ballot at home and take it to the polling place or secure ballot drop-boxes on election day. *Note-the Flagstaff City Primary is a mail-in (or drop off) only ballot.

Below are links to important dates and info on registering to vote online or you can go to the County Recorder's Office at 110 E. Cherry (679-7860) to register in person. We also have Voter Registration materials at our office at 324 W. Birch (814-9543)-and we'll make sure they get to the Recorder's Office by the end of the day on Monday.

-Coconino County Election Dates
http://www.coconino.az.gov/elections.aspx?id=16246

-Service Arizona Home Page-to register online as well as other things, like vehicle registration
http://servicearizona.com/

-Voter Registration Link on the Service Arizona site
https://servicearizona.com/webapp/evoter/?popularimageclick

-Permanent Early Voter List
http://www.coconino.az.gov/elections.aspx?id=9838

-Info About Registering to Vote online
https://servicearizona.com/webapp/evoter/show_info.do#865

Although the Coconino County Democratic Party does not endorse any candidates in this non-partisan City Election we hope you and everyone you know will exercise the our right to vote. This is what it's all about!