Major Healthcare Coverage Changes In North Carolina

• Health insurance exchanges would make healthcare coverage affordable for the 1.7 million uninsured North Carolina residents and the 499,000 with nongroup health insurance coverage.
  
  
• Premium tax credits would be available to 951,000 North Carolina residents.
  
  
• Free preventative services would be provided to 1.4 million senior citizens.
  
  
• The Medicare Part D "doughnut hole" would be remedied, so that 247,000 senior citizens in North Carolina would be paying only half the cost of the brand name medications.
  
  
• The small business tax credit would allow 112,000 small businesses to benefit from lower premiums. 73% of North Carolina's businesses are actually small businesses. In 2008, only 38% of them offered health coverage. A small business tax credit being proposed would help to ensure that premiums are affordable. Employer responsibility provisions would also be eliminated.

Early Benefits Enjoyed By The 9.2 Million North Carolina Residents in 2010 and 2011

• Consumers will no longer have lifetime limits on their health insurance coverage. Annual limit use will be altered and insurance companies will not be allowed to drop coverage arbitrarily.
  
  
• There will be options available to those ineligible for health insurance. Presently there are 9% of North Carolina residents with Diabetes and 29% with high blood pressure who struggle to get health insurance. Insurers often deny coverage for these two groups. A high-risk pool established by the reform bill will give such people health insurance options.
  
  
• Free preventative services will be available. Of the preventative tests that have been neglected, 33% of North Carolina residents have not undergone a colorectal screening for cancer and 18% of women aged 50 and above have neglected to get a mammogram for the past two years. Prevention and public health will be encouraged through funds invested for these purposes.
  
  
• Health coverage for those who retire early will be supported. Even though 119,000 early retirees have special coverage through their employers, such coverage is becoming rarer. The new system would offer reinsurance to help stabilize health insurance coverage and help lower health insurance premiums for existing employees and the early retirees. It could make as much as $1200 difference in premiums for families.