By Jocelyn Guyer

Today, health reform is the new law of the land.  In a signing ceremony before an enthusiastic group of supporters, President Obama signed the health reform bill.  (While the House-passed reconciliation measure that makes some improvements to the health reform bill is still pending in the Senate, the key elements of health reform are now law.) 

President Obama said the new law recognizes the fact that “everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their healthcare.”

One of the more touching moments of the signing ceremony was when President Obama paid tribute to an eleven-year-old boy who lost his mother to an illness as she was uninsured and couldn’t afford necessary treatment.  It drove home for me the point that the well-being of our nation’s children depends not only on whether or not they have coverage but whether or not their whole family has access to affordable, reliable coverage.   If previous efforts to pass health reform had succeeded, Marcellas Owen’s mother might still be alive and well today.

While many improvements to our healthcare system will be gradually and thoughtfully put in place, there are some very important changes that will take effect beginning this year such as:

• Young adults will be allowed to stay on their parent’s policies until they are 26.
• Insurance companies no longer will be able to impose lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits, nor can they drop coverage when someone becomes sick.
• Children with insurance no longer can be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition.
• Seniors no longer will pay a copay or deductible for preventive care under Medicare (starting in 2011) and will start to see some early relief from the Medicare drug benefit’s “doughnut hole.”
• Starting today, states will be required to “hold steady” when it comes to providing Medicaid and CHIP coverage — they must at least maintain the coverage that they have in place now and no longer can add new red-tape barriers that make it harder for families to sign up for coverage.

At CCF, we would add one more:

• Five million more uninsured children could start receiving affordable health coverage right now through state CHIP or Medicaid plans. (These children are already eligible but unenrolled).  With families expecting concrete gains from health reform, it is a wonderful opportunity to educate people about the chance to sign up uninsured children for coverage right away.

At CCF, we view passage of CHIPRA over a year ago, as the beginning of health reform.   Many of the improvements included in CHIPRA will lay the foundation for a successful transition to an era where everyone has access to affordable, reliable health coverage.  The better job states do right now in removing red-tape from the system and reaching out to eligible but unenrolled children, the stronger the foundation will be for them to seize the opportunity to transform our health care system into one that works better for everyone.