For Immediate Release
Friday, January 27, 2017
For More Information Contact:
Ashon McKenzie
Policy Director
amckenzie@childrensdefense.org
(614) 221-2244
Renuka Mayadev
Executive Director
rmayadev@childrensdefense.org
(614) 221-2244
COLUMBUS- Today, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio (CDF-Ohio) releases a fact sheet detailing specific provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that protect the health and well-being of Ohio’s children.
Rushing to repeal the ACA without first presenting a replacement plan that protects all families and children from loss of health care coverage and benefits would be a disaster for Ohio children. “We know that healthy children are ready to learn. Congress must put our children’s future ahead of politics and shape a replacement plan that continues to protect our most valuable resource – our children” notes Renuka Mayadev, Executive Director, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio.
The fact sheet highlights essential ACA provisions that ensure the health and safety of our children, including the following:
- Eliminates annual and lifetime benefit caps for children and adults.
- Young adults can continue to be covered under their parents’ health insurance policies.
- Requires insurance to cover breast pumps for nursing mothers and amended federal labor laws to require employers to protect breastfeeding mothers’ ability to pump at work.
- Keeps reimbursement rates for pediatricians and family physicians competitive.
- Supports substance abuse treatment and behavioral health care for parents/guardians.
- Requires some insurance plans to cover screening and habilitative treatment for children with autism and other developmental disabilities.
- Pre-existing conditions are not a barrier to obtaining insurance.
Thanks to the ACA, Columbus mom Katherine and her family have had consistent, comprehensive health care coverage. Katherine’s infant son was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. His immediate treatment plan included open heart surgery and follow-up cardiologist visits for the rest of his life. Katherine worries that an ACA repeal will compromise her son’s health and bring financial ruin. The ACA supports Katherine’s son by sustaining no annual or lifetime limits for his coverage, ensuring no denial of coverage due to his pre-existing condition, and guaranteeing the opportunity to share health care coverage with his parents until he is 26 years old.