- Atecia Robinson
- Members from the round table meet to talk about the Affordable Care Act at the Pier Hotel in St. Pete
The lack of access to healthcare is a major problem in Florida, but the Affordable Care Act that was signed into law in March of 2010 is designed to make access to care easier.
At a roundtable meeting in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, Anton Gunn, the regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), presented provisions of the legislation to physicians, business owners and other community leaders. He explained that it was up to them and the media to spread the word, saying the government would not waste money on print advertisements and commercials similar to some insurance companies who are not being held accountable.
The presentation came on the same day that the Obama administration announced that a new analysis showed that the number of young adults lacking medical coverage has shrunk by 2.5 million since the new health care overhaul law took effect.
Under the act insurance companies who didn’t spend at least 80 percent of each premium on medical care instead of advertising or executive bonuses would have to provide rebates to care recipients.
Insurance rate changes are also a factor in the act. When rates increase many citizens must either juggle the difference by changing their coverage or go without. According to Families USA, 38 percent of Florida’s population was either underinsured or uninsured in 2008. Starting on September 1, 2011 insurance companies across the nation are required to publicly justify their actions if they wanted to raise rates by more than 10 percent.
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2011.