The Affordable Care Act is making health care more secure and giving consumers more control by: 1) Outlawing discriminatory practices like denying coverage due to preexisting conditions. 2) Providing protections and benefits that are already in effect like allowing young adults to stay on their parents' plans. 3) Creating a competitive health marketplace in 2014 that will guarantee affordable coverage for all.

1. The Affordable Care Act
Making health care more secure and
returning control to consumers
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2. Our Health Care Principles
What guides the work we do:
• Health Care Freedom must be restored.
Medical decisions should be controlled by
patients in consultation with their healthcare
providers, without interference from insurance
companies
• Everyone should have health security, – the
ability to purchase quality coverage at a fair and
affordable price.
• Health Care discrimination by insurance
companies is a violation of fundamental
rights, especially against people with
preexisting conditions, and must be outlawed.
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3. This presentation covers what happens in Wisconsin
because of Health Reform, and what Walker has done to
threaten it: aka Walkercare
The Affordable Care Act
The new national health care law, achieves
these principles
--Passed March 23, 2010
--Reforms Come in 2 Stages
Happy 2nd
Birthday
ACA!
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4. Stages of Reform
Stage 1 (in effect now)
• Outlaws worst health insurance
abuses including denials based on
preexisting conditions for children
(adults with preexisting conditions will be
covered in 2014).
• Creates new standards for
insurance, such as allowing young
2.5 million young
adults now have adults to stay on parents policies
coverage that
didn’t before! until they are 26. 4

5. Stages of Reform
Stage 2 (goes into effect 2014)
• Expand BadgerCare (Medicaid) to almost
all low income Wisconsinites.
• Create competitive health marketplace to
guarantee coverage to everyone who
does not have good insurance at work.
• Require Members of Congress to buy the
same plans offered to everyone else in
the new marketplace.
• Strengthen Medicare for Seniors.
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6. Just So We’re Clear:
All the provisions, changes and
benefits that we mentioned and will
mention will be taken away from you
if this law is repealed or blocked in
some way.
Walker has worked to block the
Affordable Care Act at every turn,
and has told the Attorney General to
challenge the law in court 6

7. Stage 1 Reforms
Insurance Practices Outlawed now
under the Affordable Care Act
• Preexisting condition exclusions (kids now/
everyone in 2014)
• Lifetime limits
• Dropping coverage after a person gets sick
• Excessive insurance industry profits and
overhead (80-85% of your premium dollars
must be spent on medical care, not profits)
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8. Walkercare: 2011
Walker’s Insurance Commissioner, who has
been investigated for illegal campaign
contributions, has sought to stop this cap
on excessive insurance industry profits and
overhead (80-85% of your premium dollars
on medical care, not profits)
This “request”, which would have cost
consumers ~$14 million in higher insurance
premiums, was blocked by the Federal
Government 8

9. Stage 1 Reforms
The Affordable Care Act guarantees
• Preventive care coverage (ex:
Mammograms, checkups, etc) with no cost
Get care sooner sharing (co-pays, deductibles, etc)
Prevention saves
Money & lives!• Young adults can stay on parents
policies until age 26
• Preventive care without cost sharing
for seniors on Medicare
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10. The Affordable Care Act Ends
Discrimination for 2.5 Million
Wisconsinites Under 65
• Nearly 1 Million in Wisconsin under age
65 have a preexisting conditions that
would deny coverage to them if they
bought insurance on their own
• An additional 1.5 million non-elderly
Wisconsinites have preexisting conditions
that could cause them to be denied
coverage or charged excessive rates.
(Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, January 2011)
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11. Just Some of the Examples of
Preexisting Conditions
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To name a few…

12. The Faces of Reform
How the Affordable Care Act is
already helping people
across Wisconsin who would
otherwise be the victims of
health insurance
discrimination
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13. Sami’s Story
“My 7-year-old son, Sami, suffers from a
disease that causes tumors to grow all
over his body. Sami’s treatments
could not continue if we hit our
insurance policy’s life time limit.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act,
insurance companies can no longer
impose lifetime limits or deny health
coverage to children like Sami with
preexisting conditions. We can’t go
back to being on our own against the
insurance companies.”
--Tracy, Appleton, Wisconsin
.
Without the Affordable Care Act’s protections, 13
What would this family do?

14. Remy’s Story
“I own a small café. Over 20 years ago
I beat cancer, but ever since then no
insurance company would sell me a
policy because my cancer is called a
preexisting condition. Starting in 2014
under the Affordable Care Act, no
insurance company will be allowed to
discriminate against me because I’m
a cancer survivor.”
--Remy, Pepin, Wisconsin
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15. Stage 2: Guaranteed Affordable
Health Care (in 2014)
• Wisconsin, with federal funding, would
have created a new competitive health
marketplace, while keeping what works
now in place.
• Walker returned $38 million for the
creation of this marketplace, closed the
“Office of Free Market Healthcare”, and
allowed the legislature to end 2012
session with no competitive health
marketplace
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16. Walkercare Strikes Again!
• Wisconsin will still get a Competitive
Health Marketplace, the Federal
Government will create one for us at
some future date.
• Meaning we have to wait longer for all
of the following benefits…
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17. Competitive Health
Marketplace for Middle Class
• Created by (or, for us, for) each state to
meet unique needs by 2014.
• Access through website, similar to
Travelocity or Consumer Reports, chose
your own private insurance carrier and
standards benefits plan.
• System voluntary: can stay with current
health insurance if it works for you.
• Consumers in control, with clear
information, clear comparisons, and real
competition. 17

18. Competitive Health
Marketplace
• Makes coverage more secure by ensuring
that people cannot be denied coverage
due to preexisting conditions or have
coverage dropped when they get sick.
• Members of Congress will be required to
get their coverage through the same
competitive marketplace
• Makes coverage more affordable, by
providing tax credits on a sliding scale to
middle class Wisconsinites.
• Bans discriminatory pricing based on
medical condition, age, or gender.
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19. Gender Discrimination
National Women's Law Center, "Turning to Fairness".
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Based on comparable insurance plans for 25 year old women and men living capitol cities.
http://www.nwlc.org/resource/report-turning-fairness-insurance-discrimination=against-women-today-and-affordable-care-act

20. Stabilizes & Expands BadgerCare
to low income Wisconsinites
• BadgerCare expanded to include every
citizen who meets income requirements
• Wisconsin’s contribution of BadgerCare
expansion is substantially reduced.
• Eliminates the risk of BadgerCare cuts.
• Affects 337,000 Wisconsinites Badger-
Care (Medicaid) recipients with serious
and chronic diseases such as Cancer,
Lung Disease, Diabetes & Heart Disease.
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21. Walkercare vs
Badgercare
• Walker’s original plan involved removing
over 60,000 people, including 29,000
children from Badgercare to save money
• The Affordable Care Act requires states to
seek a waiver to change their Medicaid
programs (like Badgercare)
• The Obama Administration did not allow
them to remove that many people
• Walker is still trying, this time removing
22,000 individuals
• Kicker: financially, there is now no need to 21

22. Strengthen Medicare
The Affordable Care Act protects
Medicare benefits for seniors and
strengthens the program for future
generations by
• cracking down on waste, fraud, and
abuse in Medicare,
• ending handouts to insurance
companies, and
• providing free preventive care to
decrease costly emergency room visits
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and reduce health care costs long-term.

23. Faces of Reform
The human impact of the new
competitive health marketplace . . . .
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24. John’s Story
"I have a tooth that is in infected and needs to be
removed, which normally costs $100, but
because I have Hemophilia the drugs are
between $50,000 & $100,000 just to stop the
bleeding. I have been denied insurance because
of my condition, any employer-based care would
require me to wait a year. I have no way of
dealing with my conditions the way things are
now. That is why I am looking forward to the new
health marketplace."
--John, Small Business Owner, Albany, WI
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25. Steve’s Story
"I suffered from a deteriorating spine
problem for about 10 years...We
discovered what so many Americans
have had the misfortune of
discovering-It was impossible to
purchase health insurance on the free
market if you were considered high
risk (had a pre-existing condition)...We
applied many times over the years to
every health insurance company we
could find and were flat out rejected…
with little other option I took a 20 hour
flight to Malaysia to get treatment.
Under the Affordable Care Act, I will
have a right to coverage so I can get
treatment here in the U.S.”
--Steve, Verona, Wisconsin
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26. The Choice
• There will be change: because of
skyrocketing health costs everyone
agrees we need to change.
• One option is to continue implementing
the Affordable Care Act, which is already
protecting us from health discrimination
and will guarantee greater security and
control.
• What we’re left with is “Walkercare”,
before reform and with cuts to
Wisconsin’s safety net.
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27. Walkercare
1. Joins other states in challenging the
Affordable Care Act in court, allowing
insurance companies to deny coverage
to millions of people with preexisting
conditions & drop coverage for those
who get sick, forcing many into
bankruptcy if successful.
2. Ends Badgercare for tens of thousands.
Cutting off or pricing out families from a
moderate cost insurance alternative,
They have no leaving few alternatives
argument for this
It is not fiscally 27
necessary

28. Walkercare
1. Scheduled over $500 million in cuts for
Medicaid, despite no fiscal need for
doing so.
2. Allows insurance companies to raise
rates uncontrolled & charge excessive
rates
3. Returns $38 million for the creation of
the Competitive Health Marketplace,
protecting consumers with preexisting
conditions & giving individuals more
options 28

29. The Affordable Care Act is
Worth Protecting
• Guarantees health care freedom.
Working families no longer can be
denied coverage for preexisting
conditions, lose their coverage when
they get sick, or have to haggle with
insurance companies about claims and
crucial medical treatments.
• Everyone will have the peace of mind of
knowing that they and their families
have guaranteed access to affordable
coverage options, no matter what..
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30. Affordable Care Act is Worth
Protecting
• Increased opportunity: families will not
Groups that struggle be forced into bankruptcy when
to get coverage now:
-Entrepreneurs someone gets sick, and will be free to
-Small biz owners
-Farmers pursue economic opportunities without
-Contractors
-Nonprofits
concern with how they will get health
-Churches coverage
to name a few
• Wisconsin should work to improve
the new law by implementing it in a way
that works for everyone, not special
interests such as the health insurance
industry. 30

31. One More Time…
The 4 Most Important Points When “Talking
Healthcare”…
• Discrimination based on “preexisting
conditions” will soon be outlawed, and now is
for children under 18.
• Preventive care will save money and keep us
healthier.
• Members of Congress will get the same
insurance we get access to.
• When someone says they “don’t like
Obamacare”, ask them what they don’t like
about (insert favorite new benefit here!) 31

32. How You Can Help
• Real Stories change hearts & minds,
share your health care stories with us!
• Hold a house party to learn how to “Talk
Health Reform” during the Recalls
• Our speaker’s bureau is always looking
for new chances to speak.
• We need speakers to
present this presentation to others,
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generally only once a month

33. Questions?
• Kevin Kane
Healthcare Organizer
Citizen Action of Wisconsin
414 550 8280 (cell)
kevin.kane@citizenactionwi.org
facebook.com/got.healthcare
citizenactionwi.org
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