Obama's Health Reform Plan

If you have insurance:

• Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
• Prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it the most.
• Caps out-of pocket expenses so people don't go broke when they get sick.
• Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money.
• Protects Medicare for seniors and eliminates the "donut-hole" gap in coverage for prescription drugs.

If you don't have insurance:

• Creates a new insurance marketplace-the Exchange- that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
• Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance and to help small businesses cover their employess.
• Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured who can't find affordable coverage with a real choice.
• Offers new, low-cost coverage through a national "high risk" pool to prtoect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.

For all Americans:

• Won't add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront.
• Creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.
• Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine.
• Requires large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everone shares in the responsibility of reform.