The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009, jump starts President Obama’s healthcare reform. According to Families USA, the bill includes healthcare spending for Medicaid, healthcare efficiencies, assistance for seniors by providing healthcare provisions. The following are highlights from the stimulus bill:
- COBRA: $24.7 billion to subsidized to hlep unemployed workers purchase their employer’s COBRA coverage.
- Medicaid: Increase federal dollars for state Medicaid programs by $87 billion until the end of 2010 to support this crucial safety net program amidst rising demands.
- Healthcare improvements: $19.2 billion to encourage the use of electronic medical records, including the collection of data on race, ethnicity, primary language, and gender, health information technology (HIT), and comparative effectiveness guidelines in order to promote system-wide efficiency and more effective clinical treatment.
- Transitional Medical Assistance: Extend Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA), a program that allows families to maintain Medicaid coverage temporarily when they start a new job and earn income that would otherwise render them ineligible. TMA prevents families from being penalized for working.
- Qualified Individual Program: Continue the Qualified Individual (QI) program, which helps low-income seniors and disabled Americans pay their monthly Medicare premium.
- National Institutes of Health: $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Wellness Programs: $650 million to support prevention and wellness activities targeting obesity, smoking, and other risk factors for chronic diseases
- Training Programs: $500 million for health professions training programs, including $300 million to revitalize the National Health Service Corps (NHSC).
Additional resources on the healthcare spending details:
Interesting to see the specifics of health care in the stimulus package. Thanks!