The Columbus DispatchÂ
March 25, 2011
On Monday, I was in Columbus to meet with hospital leaders, the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Cardinal Health Foundation. We discussed the exciting collaborative efforts taking place in Ohio hospitals to improve patient care. And they were excited about new provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health-care law signed a year ago by President Barack Obama, that will help them deliver even better care to Ohioans.
Later that day, I met David Harper, the founder of Harper Engineering, a small employer in Cleveland. For his eight employees, he provides health coverage, which helps him attract top workers. But in recent years, his health-insurance costs have skyrocketed, confronting him with some difficult choices. This year, thanks to the health-care law, he received a $3,000 tax credit to help offset these costs. He told me the extra money has allowed him to keep investing in his company and his employees.
In the 12 months since the president signed the health-care law, I've heard many stories like these. Across the country, the law is holding insurers accountable, keeping down costs and helping to raise the quality of care. Just look at the other improvements the law is making in Ohio.
For families, there is a new sense of freedom. Today, an estimated 643,000 Ohio children with pre-existing health conditions are free from being denied coverage by insurance companies. And parents can continue to insure their children on their family plan through the age of 26, a big relief to many Ohio families.
For seniors, there are Medicare improvements. The 1.7 million Ohio seniors can now get key preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies or an annual wellness visit without paying a copay or deductible. And the seniors with the highest prescription-drug costs have already received a one-time $250 tax-free check to help them afford their medications. This year there is a 50 percent discount on covered brand-name drugs, which will reduce out of pocket costs.
Thanks to the law, community health centers in both rural areas and Ohio cities can serve more patients and provide more services with funds from the Affordable Care Act. And Ohio State University has received a $100 million competitive grant for expanded research facilities that will benefit Ohioans for years to come.
These are just a few of the new benefits and protections that Buckeyes are enjoying thanks to the health-care law. And there will be additional benefits as the law is fully implemented in the coming years.
The Affordable Care Act is not perfect; no law ever is. The Obama administration continues to be open to any ideas to improve it. For example, Obama has joined with Democrats and Republicans in calling for the repeal of a bookkeeping provision in the law that was too burdensome on small businesses.
But instead of working to strengthen the law and build on the benefits that it's delivering to Ohioans, some political opponents want to take away the benefits that are already in place in Ohio and across America.
Opponents said the Affordable Care Act would destroy the Medicare Advantage program. This simply is not true. Today, the number of seniors choosing Medicare Advantage plans is at an all-time high, and premiums are down 6 percent.
Charges that the law would be harmful to small businesses also are not true. Thanks in part to the tax credits available to firms like Harper Engineering, early signs suggest that for the first time in years, the number of small businesses offering health insurance is actually going up. And in 2014, small employers will have more choices and lower costs for their health coverage.
Another old attack is that the law is bad for our economy. But here are the facts: Since the president signed the Affordable Care Act into law, the economy has improved, growing at an average annual rate of 2.7 percent and creating nearly 1.4 million private-sector jobs.
And the Congressional Budget Office - the official nonpartisan scorekeeper of legislation - has said repeatedly that the health law cuts the deficit by $230 billion in the first 10 years and $1 trillion in the next decade.
These tired attacks not only get the facts wrong, they also take away from the opportunity we have to work together to implement this law as effectively as possible.
A year after the Affordable Care Act was passed, doctors and nurses are getting new tools to improve care, and millions of Ohio children, families, seniors and business owners are getting more freedom and control in their health-care choices. We should work to build on this progress, not undo it.
Kathleen Sebelius is secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.