HEALTH CARE BILL? Part1
- People with pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied coverage, families with no insurance can apply for tax credits which will help them buy affordable coverage, small businesses will be given tax cuts to help pay for employee coverage, and about 50 million uninsured Americans will be given the chance to become insured.
- New plans must cover checkups and other preventative care without co-pays. All plans will be affected by 2018
- For senior citizens, they will have access to free preventive care which includes free annual check-ups, mammograms, and colonoscopies, and a 50% discount for prescription drugs for those who fall in the Medicare 'doughnut hole' (Under current law, Medicare stops covering drug costs after a plan and beneficiary have spent more than $2,830 on prescription drugs. It starts paying again after an individual’s out-of-pocket expenses exceed $4,550), and that is only what will happen in this year. Long term, the Medicare 'doughnut hole' will be closed making sure senior citizens will be able to afford insurance.
- Insurance companies can no longer cut someone when he or she gets sick.
- Insurers must now reveal how much money is spent on overhead.
- The Secretary of Health and Human Services will set up a new Web site to make it easy for Americans in any state to seek out affordable health insurance options The site will also include helpful information for small businesses.
- For young adults, starting this year, you will be able to stay on your parents health insurance plan until your 26th birthday, in 2014 young adults will be given tax credits to help them afford coverage, and also the new plan will ban new groups from establishing eligibility requirements that discriminate against lower waged workers.
- Chain restaurants will be required to provide a "nutrient content disclosure statement" alongside their items. Expect to see calories listed both on in-store and drive-through menus of fast-food restaurants sometime soon.
- For women, in 2014, discrimination against women with pre-existing conditions will be banned, also it will make it illegal for insurers to charge women more than man for health coverage, and also health plans will include maternity services.
- Non-profit Blue Cross organizations will be required to maintain a medical loss ratio -- money spent on procedures over money incoming -- of 85 percent or higher to take advantage of IRS tax benefits.
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Farm Bill
Not to get confused with Farmville, Farm Bill is an agricultural food policy brought on by the Federal government. This bill gets passed every 5 years and it has an effect on our everyday lives. It can effect what goes in stores, what goes in schools meal programs, the preservation and farming in general. The current bill, Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, won't expire until 2012. Here are a few pointers about this current bill.
The current bill increased spending on food stamps
It increases the accessibility of fruits and vegetables in low-income schools by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, which gives free fruits and vegetables schools
Farmers Market Promotion Program, Community Food Project grants, and other food programs will be funded
Part of the bill gives tax credits to producers of cellulosic biofuels which are produced from wood and other non edible plants.
Its' program, Rural Energy for America Program, will give grants up to 25% of energy upgrades for agricultural producers as well as rural small business.