Affordable Care Act Q&A and Resources for You

Are you hearing all this talk about the Affordable Care Act? Is it confusing to you? Well October 1st is tomorrow and now is the time to figure this thing out!!! I got to speak with Lisa Zamosky and medical director Dr. Michael W. Smith to discuss just these points. 

What young Americans and retirees need to do before the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented?
If you have insurance, you don't need to do a thing - that includes Medicaid and Medicare insurers.
If you do not have coverage then you will need to start educating yourself for the plan that you will enroll in. WebMD wants you to know you are not alone. They have launched a major resource center to help answer questions. 

What are the different levels of health insurance (e.g., bronze, silver, gold) and how to determine which is the best option for you?
WebMD has a health insurance cost calculator which will help to decide the level or plan of insurance you will be purchasing from the marketplace. But there are 4 levels and if you are the person that has no major issues, then you may want the lower plan, that would help for things like unexpected emergencies and such. If you have a pre-existing condition or need care more often, then you may want a larger coverage plan. The main difference amongst the tiers are how much each plan pays towards your care. This will also be setup by state, so that will be the first thing you are asked!

Are there changes, etc...for maternity care? Absolutely...for those that don't have maternity care on their current plan. Maternity is included as one of the essential 10 that must be included in all plans offered by the marketplace.

Visit the webmd.com/myhealthcare resource center for more information!

About:

Michael W. Smith, MD serves as Medical Director and Chief Medical Editor at WebMD. Dr. Smith is in charge of the medical team that is responsible for upholding the accuracy and credibility of WebMD content, including health news, features, videos, tools, and health reference information.  Dr. Smith is a regular guest on The Weather Channel and is featured monthly on Fox 5 News in New York to discuss the latest health headlines. Other appearances include Fox News, MSNBC, CBS’ The Early Show, and Katie Couric's web-based show @KatieCouric, among others. In addition, he has appeared in multiple publications, including Men's Health, Newsweek, Forbes, and Reader's Digest and was featured as the Internet's Top Doc in USA Weekend.

Lisa Zamosky serves as WebMD’s Health Reform Expert. Over the past three years, Zamosky has blogged for WebMD for their Health Insurance Navigator blog. She is also a columnist for the Health Care Watch column in the Los Angeles Times. And her work has been published in Reuters, MSNBC, Health.com, the Chicago Tribune, and Baltimore Sun, among other publications.