Health Reform Law Ends Lifetime Limits For 105 Million Americans
State-By-State Data Available
US Dep’t of Health and Human Services March 5, 2012
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a new
report today on how the health reform law has eliminated lifetime limits
on coverage for more than 105 million Americans. Before health reform,
many Americans with serious illnesses such as cancer risked hitting the
lifetime limit on the dollar amount their insurance companies would
cover for their health care benefits.
“For years, Americans with lifetime caps imposed on their health
insurance benefits have had to live with the fear that if an illness or
accident happened, they could max out their health coverage when they
needed it the most,” said Secretary Sebelius. “Now, because of the
health care law, they no longer have to live in fear of that happening.”
The end of lifetime limits is one of many new consumer rights and
protections in the law for Americans nationwide. In the report, HHS
provides data on the number of people in each state that benefit from
this component of the law. The Obama administration also released
updated state data on other ways the new law has impacted Americans,
including the number of people with Medicare receiving new preventive
benefits and the various grants awarded to states.
While some plans provided coverage without dollar limits on lifetime
benefits, 105 million Americans were previously in health plans that had
lifetime limits. HHS estimates that 70 million people in large employer
plans, 25 million people in small employer plans, and 10 million people
with individually purchased health insurance had lifetime limits on
their health benefits prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
This includes 39.5 million women and 28 million children; 11.8 million
Latinos and 10.4 million African Americans.
To view the report on lifetime limits, visit:
http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2012/LifetimeLimits/ib.shtml
To view additional state by state data on the benefits of health reform,
visit:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/04/new-data-affordable-care-act-y
our-state