Is There a Place for Alternative Medicine in the Affordable Care Act Program?
It’s been more than a year now since the US Supreme Court ruling of the Obamacare program or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the federal government has implemented it nationwide as of January 1, 2013. There are approximately 45 million Americans who doesn’t have any discernible health insurance coverage at the moment and it seems that the PPACA has been the longest and the hardest battle that the Obama Administration has had to fight for even before he became the President of the United States. Now there is the lingering doubt on alternative medicine practitioners and what their role is going to be within the provisions of the PPACA.
Is the PPACA Friendly to Alternative Medicine or Not?
Well, there are two sides to this coin actually and on the one hand it says that in order for an alternative medical practitioner to get insurance coverage from healthcare providers, they’ll have to provide proof that their methods work. This is becoming a little bit disconcerting as there are very rare experiments or peer reviews done on alternative medicine – even though most of them do work! But thanks to the “Non-Discrimination” clause of the PPACA it forces healthcare providers to provide insurance coverage to alternative medicine if the patient decides to seek it. So in a sense we professional alternative medicine practitioners can cling to this clause in case the going gets tough, legally.
Everybody Gets a Fair Share
The lightning bolt that the President used to rally more to his cause was that people are sick and tired of the many technicalities that healthcare providers used to deny coverage to
their consumers. Indeed it is one of the reasons that got him elected and re-elected and between 2012 and 2013 over 21.5 million people will get a $100 refund from their respective healthcare providers (more than half of this number already have received the refunds to date). Furthermore, the “Non-Discrimination” clause will favor ordinary folks so much and just like what the President said last July 18, 2013 Thursday – “holding insurance companies and providers accountable so that we all get a better deal.” It’s almost unbelievable that the United States has one of the worst health insurance policies in the world, but the PPACA will change all that now.
The Marketplace
The marketplace is a nationwide network of health insurance providers that adhere to the PPACA policies, which means that you can get affordable healthcare coverage in all the 50 states of America. It will also give you the option to seek alternative medical help and retain insurance coverage under the “Non-Discrimination” clause of the Act. Among the benefits that you’ll enjoy in the Marketplace include:
- You can get lower costs on coverage
You can check out your eligibility in getting low cost premiums as well as OOP (out of pocket) option if you wish to get health insurance coverage from a private firm. There are also free insurance coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and you can find information about that in the Marketplace also.
- Essential health benefits are covered in the Marketplace
The federal government requires all insurance companies to have a comprehensive health benefits that includes doctor visits, prescriptions, hospitalization, preventive care, and other specifics.
- Pre-existing conditions will be covered
The days of insurance plans screw up people’s health benefits and coverage via technicalities in their rules and bylaws are over and they are now mandated to provide insurance to people who have pre-existing health conditions.
- You can get help in your area
You can get help from the Marketplace through phone, the internet, TV, radio and other local government agencies in your area.
- Fees begin
People are now required by the federal government to get health insurance or else be fined for non-compliance; however, those who are financially struggling in life will be exempted.
Johanna Oosterwijk ND