What Does the New Health Care Bill Mean For Medicare?

President Obama got his wish last night as the House of Representatives passed his new health care bill with a vote of 219-212. The bill is being sent to the White House to be signed into law by Obama on Tuesday.

Here is a summary of the 10 major points of the health care bill and how Medicare recipients will be affected by it. These major points are covering the immediate effects the health care bill will have on Americans. Many other points of the bill will not surface until 2014.

10 key points Obama's health care bill covers:

* Children may remain as dependents on their parents' policy until their 27th birthday

* Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions

* No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage

* Free preventative care for all

* Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online.

* Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees' health insurance.

* The "donut hole" closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.

* All insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.

* Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states. Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.

* Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office gave figures for the bill, saying $138 billion will be cut from the national deficit over the next decade with this bill, even though the bill itself is estimated to cost $938 billion.

The bill is hoping to raise the amount of insured Americans by 11% (to 94%) by 2014. The huge cost of the bill will be made up by added taxes, including an increased Medicare payroll tax. This brings us to the affect the health care bill will have on Medicare beneficiaries.

* As of now, in the Medicare D plan there is a coverage gap. If a Medicare beneficiary goes over the prescription drug coverage limit they have to pay for the entire prescription until it meets the catastrophic coverage threshold. The health care plan will help close this gap by giving all Medicare D beneficiaries $250 to help pay for prescriptions.

* The gap will continue to close in 2011 when brand-name prescription drugs will be discounted 50%, and is expected to completely close by 2020 (Medicare beneficiaries will still have to pay for 25% of the prescription cost, but the cost itself will be substantially decreased).

* Medicare hospital insurance tax rate will increase in 2012 by.9% for beneficiaries earning over $200,000 or a married couple making $250,000

* Sets a new standard for Medicare payment to hospitals and doctors

Melissa Rubin is a senior copywriter and Web developer at OTO Networks, a digital marketing company located in Baltimore, Maryland. Her primary responsibilities include SEO, link building and creating content for multiple sites. A preview of a site on which she has worked, http://www.RetirementFinances.com, is available with this article.