{"id":2249,"date":"2013-12-20T19:36:21","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T19:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=2249"},"modified":"2013-12-20T19:36:21","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T19:36:21","slug":"affordable-care-act-for-seniors-benefits-without-obligations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=2249","title":{"rendered":"Affordable Care Act for Seniors: Benefits Without Obligations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Medicare Coverage Means Individual Mandate is Met<\/h2>\n

by John Michaelson\/TNS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – With the rough roll-out of the health care marketplaces, some senior citizens are raising concerns about the Affordable Care Act. But a new report has found that, for them, it has led to more benefits – without more obligations.<\/p>\n

Report author Jon Bailey, director, rural public policy program, Center for Rural Affairs, said most of the provisions that directly affect seniors have been in place since 2010, and they center around enhanced benefits in terms of preventive care and treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more support for purchasing prescription drugs, and some wellness and health benefits for senior citizens. So, most of the effects of the Affordable Care Act on senior citizens are positive, without any real requirement that they do much different than they\u2019re doing now,\u201d Bailey explained.<\/p>\n

\"A

A new report from the Center for Rural Affairs says the Affordable Care Act has led to more health benefits for senior citizens, without any real additional requirements.
Photo: Aberdeen Proving Ground\/TNS.<\/p><\/div>\n

These added benefits are especially important in rural areas, where the population is older and residents generally receive fewer medical screenings and preventive care procedures, he added.<\/p>\n

As far as the laws just coming online, such as the requirement that everyone must have health insurance, Bailey said they don\u2019t really affect seniors, because they have Medicare.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedicare meets that mandate, so they\u2019re set. They\u2019re covered. They don\u2019t have to worry about going on to the \u2018healthcare.gov\u2019 website or any of the other state-based marketplaces,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to worry – as long as they\u2019re getting Medicare, they\u2019re set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bailey added that despite early warnings about the ACA\u2019s impact on Medicare Advantage plans, rather than declining, the number of seniors enrolling is actually greater than was estimated. The study, \u201cSeniors and the Affordable Care Act,\u201d is on the Center for Rural Affairs website, www.cfra.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Medicare Coverage Means Individual Mandate is Met by John Michaelson\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas – With the rough roll-out of the health care marketplaces, some senior citizens are raising concerns about the Affordable Care Act. But a new report has found that, for them, it has led to more benefits – without more obligations. Report author Jon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2249"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2251,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249\/revisions\/2251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}