Guest: Robert Kraig, Ph.D., Executive Director, Citizen Action of Wisconsin
The Affordable Care Act is now the law of the land, but has the politics of it gotten in the way of you understanding just what is?
On this program, Robert Kraig describes the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, explains just what it means to have access to health care under the provisions of this major legislation, how you may particularly benefit, and what Wisconsin is and is not doing to implement the new law.
While some benefits are already in place, the full implementation of the law does not go into effect until 2014. That is when the state Health Insurances Exchanges must be in place and will offer private plans that do not exclude people with pre-existing conditions and provide a list of benefits including: Ambulatory patient services; Emergency services; Hospitalization; Maternity and newborn care; Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; Prescription drugs; Rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; Laboratory services; Preventive and wellness services; Chronic disease management, and Pediatric services, including oral and vision care.
The Walker Administration has so far not begun the process of setting up Wisconsin's Health Insurance Exchanges nor accepted the additional federal dollars to expand Medicaid.
For the facts on health care reform and its impact on Wisconsin, listen to this program and go to healthcare.gov where you will find a broad overview of all aspects of the law in consumer-friendly language.
