*Insurance companies will no longer be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will not be eliminated and annual limits will not be restricted.
*Insurers can bar coverage for childrenbecause of pre-existing conditions.
*Young adults, who could have remained on their parent's healthplan will be dropped from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college.
*Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will not be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.
*A tax credit that became available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers will be gone.
*Medicare will no longer provide a 10 percent bonus payments to primary care physicians and general surgeons (we have shortages of these vital people, remember?)
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*Medicare beneficiaries will not be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service.
*New health plans that would have required covering preventive services with little or no cost to patients will be gone.
*A new program under the Medicaid plan for the poor that would have gone into effect in October that allows states to offer home and community based care for the disabled that might otherwise require institutional care would be eliminated.
*Payments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage services wouldn't be frozen at 2010 levels. They will continue to increase instead of being gradually reduced to bring them more in line with traditional Medicare.
*Big pharma can continue to operate as a capital investment firm because the annual fee that was to be imposed on pharmaceutical companies according to market share will be gone. The fee does not apply to companies with sales of $5 million or less.
*Physician payment reforms won't be implemented in Medicare to enhance primary care services and encourage doctors to form "accountable care organizations" to improve quality and efficiency of care.
*An incentive program wont' be established in Medicare for acute care hospitals to improve quality outcomes.
*The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the government programs, will not be tracking hospital readmission rates and puts in place financial incentives to reduce preventable readmissions.
*The Medicare payroll tax won't be raised to 2.35 percent from 1.45 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000. This means the system will continue to bleed AND allow people to fall through the cracks.
*State health insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals will not open. You will be at the mercy of unchecked and unregulated market forces.
*Healthcare tax credits will never become available to help people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty purchase coverage on the exchange.
*Health plans can exclude people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
*Employers with 50 or more workers who do not offer coverage won't have to face a fine of $2,000 for each employee if any worker receives subsidized insurance on the exchange. The first 30 employees aren't counted for the fine.
*Health insurance companies begin paying a fee based on their market share.
http://www.reuters.com/...