How does health care reform hit home?

(This is Part 2 of a 2-part story about The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama last year. Read Part 1 here.)

By DIAN VUJOVICH
SPECIAL TO THE DAILY NEWS

The Impact of Reform

Depending on the poll figures you read, the divide between individuals who like the Affordable Care Act and those who don’t seems to vary from a roughly 35-65 split in either direction to about 50-50.

As far as politicians go, the Republican Party has made it known that it intends to repeal the act.

But since the act was signed into law in March, a number of programs have been put in place. Repealing it in full would be as challenging as trying to put a genie back into a bottle.

The Office of Health and Human Services has broken down what the overall impact of a repeal would mean to citizens in each state. Here’s an overview of how it would affect Florida residents:

• 86,300 young adults would lose their insurance coverage through their parents’ health plans.
• More than 8.7 million residents with private insurance coverage would find themselves vulnerable again to having lifetime limits placed on them and how much insurance companies will spend on their health care.
• Insurance companies would again be allowed to cut off someone’s coverage unexpectedly because of a mistake on an application.
• Nearly 3.2 million seniors with Medicare coverage would be forced to pay a co-pay to receive preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies.
• Medicare would no longer pay for an annual checkup.
• 182,672 individuals on Medicare would see higher prescription drug costs.
• The state would not receive additional resources for such things as cracking down on unreasonable insurance premium increases, planning for a Health Insurance Exchange and supporting a Consumer Assistance Program.