What Healthcare Reform Means to You - Single With Existing Health Insurance

If you are a single individual and you already have existing health insurance, you may think the recently passed healthcare reform act will effect you very little. Think again. While the groundbreaking legislation was primarily formulated to help the 40 million some-odd Americans with little or no access to affordable health insurance, even those of us with existing policies, may reap some rewards from the bill.

One of President Obama's main goals throughout the healthcare debate was to assure those individuals with private health insurance who are happy with their policies that they would have no reason, or mandate to change them. That is true of the new legislation.

First up, before we get into how healthcare reform may or may not benefit you in your present situation, understand that a good portion of those Americans without health insurance, were not always under those circumstances. Many of them lost their healthcare benefits along with a company lay-off or cutback. The sweeping legislation insures that this is unlikely to happen again, as tighter insurance regulations under the Act closes gaps, and no longer allows companies to deny people medical coverage for preexisting conditions and other reasons. If nothing else, the landmark legislation provides all Americans with a peace of mind that they will always have access to healthcare, no matter how the economy, or their personal financial situation may change.

Also as of 2014, when the insurance Exchanges come into full effect, you will have greater access to affordable health insurance. This means you will have greater job flexibility, no longer feeling that you must stay with an unsatisfactory job only to keep your health benefits.

Specifically, if you are single and presently insured, your insurance company will now be prohibited from placing a lifetime limit on your benefit amount, neither will they be allowed to ever cancel your policy if you become ill.  Also even if you are presently getting insurance from your employer, depending on the costs and benefits provided by the policy, it is possible in some cases, when the Exchanges come into effect, that you will be able to purchase a more affordable health insurance policy, or one with greater benefits.

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