September 23, 2010--The beginning of a new day in health care in America

As I'm sure you know, yesterday was the first day that a number of the new health care insurance market provisions of the Affordable Care Act went into effect. I'm sure you've heard the drill: no more excluding children under 19 with pre-existing conditions, no more deductibles or co-pays for preventive care, no more cancelling your policy when you get sick unless the insurance company can prove that you intentionally withheld important information when you applied, no more lifetime limits on how much your insurance company has to pay for your medical care, and a minimum of $750,000 in annual limits, phasing out to no annual limits in 2014.

On a personal note, these are some of the provisions that it is my job to enforce, along with the Departments of Insurance in the states.

The post to the right, by John Garamendi on Huffington Post, tells some stories about real people who have already been helped by this law. If you make it through almost to the bottom, you'll see some extraordinarily gracious remarks John made about me. It's possible that someone outside my immediate family has said such nice things about me before, but I can't remember when.

Is this law perfect, or is it the end of the need for reform to our health care system? Unquestionably not. Is it a enormous step forward, and will it help millions of Americans get affordable, quality health care? Unquestionably yes.