Judith Bell, president of Policy Link, chats with us about the Affordable Care Act and the health care law's recent updates that went into effect on Thursday, September 23, 2010. Listen to the audio above and/or read the transcript below. We want you to be in the know on this important issue because it's BuzzWorthy!

The Beehive (BH): This is Alison, one of your producers with The Beehive, and I am talking today with Judith Bell, president of Policy Link.

Judith Bell (JB): Hi, Alison.

BH: Hi. So we just wanted to ask you if you could tell us a little about the new health care bill that went into effect today and how that affects the average American.

JB: Well, so the average American, who have children, will see some very important new provisions. And even for Americans who don’t have children, there are some very new, important provisions that are taking effect today. And they are ones that have been particularly problematic for folks who have been sick or who have had some catastrophic problem happen to them. So for instance, as of today, insurance companies can’t deny children coverage for preexisting conditions. Very important point, and something that is very horrible when your child has a preexisting condition, and you’re searching for coverage for them. And children of parents who have insurance, you can hold those kids covered under your policy until the age of 26. Another important point that allows you to help your child get through that transition into adulthood.

Some of the other important changes are that companies can't terminate coverage for any other reason other than customer fraud. And that’s really big, because you just hear story after story of people who had their coverage canceled, and who really couldn't figure out why or the answer was related to their health status. Nothing worse than having your health status change and then seeing your coverage be dropped, so another important provision for people to have greater confidence that when they do have coverage they can hold onto it.

BH: How is it affected if you already do have health care insurance?

JB: Well, if you already do have insurance, then for instance, if you have a policy that is capping the amount of benefits and treatment that you can receive in a lifetime, those provisions will need to be changed by your insurance company. And so they’ll need to be clear with you how that contract is changing, and how that provision that previously had a cap has been removed. And that was a particularly onerous provision for the people who found themselves in the middle of a catastrophic health event and then found that they had no more coverage, because they capped out for their lifetime amount. So the companies will have to be clear about the changes they’ve had to make to your policy as a result of this reform. They may have already been in touch with you. If they haven’t, they will be soon.

BH: And I guess there was one other question I had about changes to premiums. What exactly are those changes?

JB: Well, the changes to premiums hold the companies more accountable. There are things like, for instance, insurers can’t charge customers anymore for preventive services like mammograms and colonoscopies. So, there are adjustments that will be made associated with premiums and associated with coverage. We’ll see those roll out.

There was one more important piece that I wanted to add, which is that high-risk pools are now going to be mandated to cover those who were denied coverage because of preexisting conditions. So back to the fact that the preexisting condition component both impacts children and impacts adults. We should now see people who previously just could not find coverage now able to at least get into the high-risk pools.

BH: Cool. And why has this gone into effect today?

JB: Well, this is all part of the health care reform package that was passed by Congress. It's all, you know, we have generally heard about the provisions that don’t take effect until 2014. But in fact, there are all sorts of provisions that have dates of implementation, and these were in fact set to this day. And that’s why we’re seeing them take effect today. And there will be a fairly constant flow of different changes that will be happening right through 2014 – all related to that very big, important health care package that was passed by Congress and signed by the President.

BH: Is this a good thing that will help more Americans?

JB: This is all incredibly important. For many of us who have worked on improving the access to health care for a long time, these are long, long overdue changes. These are changes that will help people to have coverage for themselves and for their children. It will help us to have more coverage for preventive services. Very, very important that the Congress and the President took these steps. And it should make access to health care improve literally today, and we’ll see additional improvements as soon as the rest of legislation takes effect.

BH: Great. Well, thank you so much for talking with me, Judith.   

JB: Thank you very much.