Health care bill: Cleveland insurers, customers await first changes

CLEVELAND -- Now that the health care bill has been passed by Congress, consumers and insurance companies are anticipating what it means for them in the immediate future.

Several changes are scheduled to go into effect very soon, meaning within the next six months, possibly sooner. But exact rules for these changes have yet to be written.

"Until we get the details of what those rules are going to be, it's going to be very difficult to really fully understand the impact of the new law," says Don Olson, Director of Corporate Communications at Medical Mutual of Ohio.

The more immediate changes include insurance companies no longer being able to drop customers who become sick. They must offer free preventative care and must eliminate lifetime caps on benefits. And parents can now keep their adult children on their policies until age 26.

"Is this legislation going to change the way we do business? Sure it is," Olson told WKYC. "How is this going to change the way we do business? We won't know until we see the details on those rules."

At Oswald Companies on East 9th and St. Clair, Executive Vice President Bob Klonk was delivering his regular webcast to his company's huge list of clients.

Oswald brokers health insurance for thousands of businesses, and Klonk says many of them were calling Monday asking about the immediate impact of the passage of the health care bill.

"We had many conversation already this morning," Klonk tells WKYC. "We've kept very much in contact with our groups."

In addition to the above mentioned "immediate" changes in health insurance coverage, Klonk mentioned another which would have importance -- mandatory coverage for children who have pre-existing conditions.

"Right now the one that's probably going to have the most impact is the high-risk pool," he said. "Those will be federal high-risk pools and they go into effect in the first 90 days. They would have the greatest impact because they're going to be available for people who have had no credible coverage for six months due to a pre-existing condition."

Another aspect of the health care bill which will kick in quickly is a $250 rebate to anyone on Medicare who exceeds spending $2,830 in 2010 on prescription drugs.

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