On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed comprehensive health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, into law. Several insurance provisions took effect on September 23, 2010 and apply to plans issued on and after that date. The law prohibits individual and group health plans from (1) placing lifetime limits on the dollar value of coverage, (2) rescinding coverage except in cases of fraud, (3) denying children coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions, or (4) including pre-existing condition exclusions for children. It also restricts annual limits on the dollar value of coverage (and eliminates annual limits in 2014). For more information on the federal health care law, see OLR’s Backgrounder, 2010-R-0255.
