2010 PHR Certification-Is Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act included in the Exam?
18. Apr, 2010 
15 Comments
I am wondering if the recent Healthcare Bill also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act or Obamacare is included in the 2010 PHR SPHR Certification exam.
On a related note, I read in one of the PHR SPHR forums about the inclusion of the FMLA amendments or updates in the last year’s exam which is still fresh at that time. What’s precisely the point in telling you this? The Healthcare Bill is fresh and it might be included in the exam. Who knows? To be on the safe side, you’d rather know it. In fact, even if it is not included in your exam and if you are working in the HR, it will still impact your job. Understanding the provisions of this Act will help you in dealing with employees.
Here are the things you should know about the healthcare law signed by President Obama:
The Mandated Benefits-beginning six months after the law’s enactment, all existing health insurance plans must:
- Prohibit lifetime limits.
- Prohibit rescissions.
- Restrict annual limits.
- Include limitations on excessive waiting periods.
- Include a requirement to provide coverage for non-dependent children up to age 26; before 2014, this requirement is limited to non-dependent children who do not have an employer offer of coverage.
Beginning in 2014, group health plans must prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions and must prohibit annual limits.
To put it simply, here are the 10 things you should know about the bill:
- Children up to age 26 can be covered by your health insurance.
- Your health insurance cannot be cancelled if you get sick.
- Starting this year, your children cannot be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
- Starting 2014, if you are an adult with pre-existing medical conditions, your application for health insurance coverage cannot be denied by the insurance companies.
- No caps or maximum monetary limits on your benefits. If you develop a medical condition that is expensive and require a lengthy treatment, you could not run out of coverage because insurance companies will no longer be allowed to place caps or maximum monetary limits on your benefits.
- Cap on your out-of-pocket medical expenses. If you currently have pre-existing conditions that disqualifies you for health insurance for at least six months, you will have coverage options before 2014. You will be able to purchase insurance through a state-run “high risk pool” which will cap your out-of-pocket expenses for medical care. You will not be required to pay more than $5,950 from your own pocket for medical expenses, and families will not have to pay any more than $11,900.
- Starting 2014, you must purchase health insurance or you will be fined.
- Starting in 2014, you will have more options. If you cannot afford to purchase employer –based health insurance and you earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, you have options through state-operated “exchanges” that will provide you with more options for buying your individual policy.
- Starting in 2018, if your combined family income is more than $250,000, more money will be deducted from your paycheck to pay for Medicare payroll taxes and 3.8% tax on any unearned income which is currently tax exempt.
- Starting 2010, if you are on Medicare and it is the only health insurance coverage you have, you will have free preventive care such as annual physical screenings for treatable conditions or routine laboratory work. You will also get a $250 check from the federal government to help pay for prescription drugs not covered as a result of Medicare Part D “doughnut hole.”
And here’s an Opinion of Atty. Emmanual Tipon published in the Filipino Chronicle:
The Good
Obamacare covers people who cannot afford health insurance and children with pre-existing conditions. However, the solution is to cover them under “assigned risk insurance pools” not by raising taxes, suggests Tom Campbell, Republican Senatorial candidate in California.
The Bad
Obamacare raises taxes to pay for the cost of the above, and hastens the death of seniors by cutting Medicare and stopping Medicare advantage.
The Ugly
Obamacare forces people to buy something that they do not want, do not like, and do not need. It treats them worse than criminals if they don’t buy health insurance. A criminal who pays the penalty is released from further liability. A person who does not buy insurance must pay a penalty but is not released from further liability. He must still buy health insurance.
The government specifies the policy’s conditions. “It takes away the freedom of individual Americans to choose the health insurance policy that is best for them,” says Campbel.
I encourage you to research further and find out exactly the entire provision of this bill. I might have missed some details.
I hope by putting this article together could help you in your review preparation. There’s so much to gain in knowing what is going on around us specifically the new legislation. Whether it is included in the 2010 PHR SPHR certification exam or not, what matter is you are updated.
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