KELSEYVILLE — Congressman Mike Thompson held a round table meeting about health care reform on Tuesday afternoon.
Thompson said, “Approximately 63,500 people in our district are uninsured.”
Small business owners, doctors and hospital administrators asked a myriad of questions about how the law will impact non-profits, small business and large medical facilities.
Thompson said the most notable tax credit is the 35-percent deduction that small business may claim.
He said the new law enables children to stay on their parents” insurance policies until they are 26 years old.
Additionally adults with pre-existing conditions will be covered.
Thompson says the bill will have many important benefits for people in this district. It immediately forbids insurance companies from dropping coverage if a person gets sick.
Adults who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition will be able to buy affordable coverage.
Seniors on Medicare who are forced to pay out-of-pocket for medications will get a rebate and community clinics will benefit. The law prohibits annual and lifetime limits on care.
“This is more about insurance reform than health care reform,” he said. “The way we deliver medical care has to change,”
The law will have a broader impact when it is fully implemented in 2014.
Thompson addressed tort reform and explained how the exchange where insurance companies will register works. He also talked about telehealth and telemedicine, to treat and save people in remote areas.
Thompson said the health care issues are not solved and one bill alone cannot solve the complexities of the health care system and that everything takes fine-tuning.
The congressman said he aims to slow down the spread of false information about death panels and cancer patients losing coverage. He said members of Congress and their staff are required to go through the same exchange as everyone else.
“The take-home on the new health care model is, we”re in this together. We need to make this work,” Thompson said.
Mandy Feder can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or call 263-5636 ext. 32.
