Your Voice Is Needed Again

I received this email from the ACA (American Chiropractic Association) this week.  Please invest 5 minutes and let your voice be heard in regard to this important healthcare issue.

Dear Chiropractic Supporter:

The new health care reform law enacted by Congress (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) requires health insurance plans to adhere to a broad new set of consumer protections.  However, some health insurance plans will be allowed to “escape” having to provide these new consumer-friendly protections because they will be granted what is called “grandfathered” status under recently released regulations.

The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) supports the adoption of regulations that would restrict the use of this “loophole” and extend the important consumer protections to as many patients as possible.

As a citizen you are allowed to submit formal comments to the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on this important issue — AND WE URGE YOU TO DO SO IMMEDIATELY…

DOING SO IS SIMPLE AND EASY.  HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO…

1. ACA has prepared a template for your own comments.   Click here to use this template.  Read ACA’s comments here.
2. Save your document in either a Word of pdf format.
3. We urge you to submit comments to HHS electronically using the “Attach a file” option under the box in Step 2 of the HHS comments website.  You may also mail your comments to the address on the template.  All comments mailed and sent electronically must be received by HHS by Monday, August 16th.  Therefore, if your comments are mailed, please make sure they are sent no later than Wednesday, August 11th.

By speaking up now, you will be helping to counter the efforts of those powerful and well –financed insurance plans that wish to avoid adopting the full range of consumer protections included as part of the new law.

You can copy and paste the following section into the comment box (Section 2) and simply add the date and your name at the end:

[INSERT DATE]

Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight

Department of Health and Human Services

Attention: OCIIO–9991–IFC

P.O. Box 8016

Baltimore, MD 21244–1850

Re:  Interim Final Rule for Group Health Plans and Health Insurance Coverage Relating to Status as a Grandfathered Health Plan Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

As a consumer and chiropractic patient I wish to take this opportunity to formally comment on the interim final rule regarding health plans and “grandfather” status (Document ID IRS-2010-0010-0001).

I believe the consumer protections included as part of the new health care law are vitally important and should be extended to as many people as possible.  Accordingly, every effort should be made to increase the number of individuals covered by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) via the above regulations.  The triggers or conditions that would extend these protections to consumers under currently existing “grandfathered” plans should not be weakened or reduced in any way.  I specifically support the position and detailed comments offered by the American Chiropractic Association with respect to the implementation of these regulations.

[INSERT NAME]

Thanks so much for your support!