Health Care for All
| 
WEAC members press for health care reform in Washington, D.C. Click here to read more. 
| WEAC Principles for Health Care Reform - Every Wisconsin resident should have access to preventive, diagnostic, routine and catastrophic care.
- Health care coverage in Wisconsin must not be denied based on age, health status, occupation or pre-existing condition.
- Strategies must be implemented that reduce and contain costs to assure affordable coverage for all individuals and employers.
- Individuals, employers and government must be required to pay their fair share.
- Full, free and fair collective bargaining rights must be established which will allow unions to negotiate over both supplemental coverage beyond that provided by the universal plan, as well as a share of the savings from health care reforms.
|
How Health Care Reform Benefits You
In September 2010, health care reform will start becoming a reality as some components of federal legislation take effect. WEAC members across the state have been advocating for health care reform for their colleagues and their students, and now we’re seeing the first stages take hold, such as:
-
An end to insurance companies using pre-existing conditions to deny coverage of children.
-
An end to lifetime and annual caps on insurance.
-
Requiring that dependents be on parents’ policies until age 26 (age 27 in Wisconsin).
The coming months and coming years will bring even more health care reform benefits, including:
-
Requiring individual and small group market plans required to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on medical services. Large group plans would have to spend at least 85 percent. (2011)
-
Expanded subsidies for families earning up to 400 percent of poverty level, currently about $88,000 a year, to purchase health insurance. (2014)
-
Requiring most employers to provide coverage or face penalties. (2014)
To hear from members on how these new benefits will affect them, their colleagues and families, click below:
Resources:
How Health Care Reform Benefits You: A Timeline handout
What's it like to live without health insurance?