Medical Experts Answer Questions
More than a hundred doctors and nurses from around the state were in Columbia to get answers about the Affordable Care Act. Health officials went over things like new programs, and how the healthcare law will have an effect on the local level.Currently there are about 875,000 Missourians that don’t have health insurance. Health experts tell ABC 17 News this new act will not only allow them to find insurance, but they should be able to afford it. It may come at a cost to you, but right now nobody knows how much that could be.There are several parts to this health care act. Health experts say the first is it gives low-income and small businesses more options to find an insurance policy that fits them. They tell us the other is a health insurance exchange. It acts like a farmers market where people can choose affordable plans, but it also spreads minimizes the effect of people with conditions that could increase the costs.”They all get thrown into the same pool together and it spreads the risk which lowers the cost,” Missouri Foundation for Health Ryan Barker explains. “So it’s an important mechanism for those small businesses those individuals and families to be able to purchase insurance.”Barker tells us the average cost of a plan for an individual $5,000. But the plan for a family is more than $11,500. The Affordable Care Act will allow all those who currently don’t have insurance to get it. But the cost to you is still up in the air. State lawmakers need to decide how much they want to increase Medicaid. It can be increased up to 133-percent.Health experts are still claiming in the long run it’s not going to cost you anymore than you’re already paying now.”Part of the Affordable Care Act really shifts our healthcare system from treatment of disease to preventing disease. Prevention saves money in the long run,” Barker says.Officials say private practices and health departments will also see changes. They say there will have to be a lot of training because there will be roles changing within positions.
