 Supporters used news
releases and conferences at the one-year mark
to boast about expanded health coverage.Opponents of the federal
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ventured online to post
tweets bashing "#ObamaCare," a moniker that came about after
President Barack Obama signed the health reforms into law last year.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC,
took its campaign against health care reform to Twitter on
Wednesday. Spokeswoman Raegan Weber said 43 states have introduced
legislation to allow for legal challenges to parts of the law,
including the requirement to buy health insurance.
ALEC is a nonprofit organization that touts the Jeffersonian
principles of free markets and favors "limited government,
federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan
public-private partnership of America's state legislators, members
of the private sector, the federal government, and general public,"
according to its
website.
"We are tweeting messages on the successes of the states and
pushing back against the unconstitutional federal mandate," Weber
said, "as well as the damaging effects of the Obamacare legislation
on the states."
Several federal judges have ruled parts or all of the new law
unconstitutional – forcing the law to most likely be heard before
the U.S. Supreme Court -- but states still are preparing for full
implementation of the measure.
In Illinois, lawmakers have introduced opt-out measures. Weber
said
Senate Bill 2175 and
House Bill 1880 would help "protect citizens from the federal
mandate," as she put it.
"The problem with Obamacare is it forces people to buy something
they shouldn't have to buy," Weber said. "It should be somebody's
choice whether they want to purchase health care or not. And it is
unconstitutional for the federal government to force citizens to buy
anything."
But supporters don't see it that way.
Michael McRaith, director of Illinois Department of Insurance,
said the health care law expands coverage to about 32 million
Americans who are without insurance, including 1.5 million Illinois
residents.
"It is an important reality in Illinois that many people are
significantly underinsured because they might have a policy, but
that policy excludes coverage for pre-existing condition," McRaith
said during a phone conference on Wednesday. "So many insurers will
offer coverage to individuals but (do) not cover their actual health
care needs."
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Under the health care reforms, insurance companies cannot deny
coverage to children under 19 with pre-existing conditions like
leukemia, cerebral palsy or AIDS. Adults denied insurance for
pre-existing condition can buy a new coverage plan.
"We know people are denied coverage by virtue of having been ill
in prior years, regardless of the likelihood of reoccurrence,"
McRaith said. "We know people are denied because they might be sick
in the future or often are denied or priced out of coverage simply
because of age. That happens in Illinois with great regularity."
The federal changes also allow adult children under 26 to remain
on their parent's insurance plan, provide tax credits for small
businesses and offer prescription drug discounts to some seniors.
While parts of the law have taken effect, the bulk of the reforms do
not begin until 2014, when low-income childless adults will be
allowed to participate in Medicaid for the first time, according to
HealthCare.gov.
McRaith described the health insurance market as "dysfunctional,"
because it used to be very competitive. Despite attacks to the law,
consumers have more control over coverage, he noted.
"There is some disruption, and definitely some discomfort among
the insurers," McRaith said. "But we know consumers buying insurance
today are better protected than they were a year ago."
Neither McRaith nor Weber had a guess at what the first year of
the new federal health care law has cost. There are wildly different
estimates of what the changes will cost states and the federal
government going forward. But supporters and opponents agree the
price tag will be large.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By DIANE S.W. LEE]
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