AOA Pushes Children's Vision Benefit to HHS Secretary

Although the new national health care reform law - most commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act - was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in late March, the Washington, D.C. battles over health care reform are far from over.

Right now, Federal agencies - led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), are going through the legislation's more than 2000 pages and are writing rules on how it will be implemented - mostly between now and 2014.

And in the first of many health overhaul implementation battles that will directly impact optometry, concerned ODs and students are urging their elected national leaders to join the fight and help AOA fully define the new children's vision benefit.

Through its all-out advocacy efforts in 2009 and 2010 focusing on Capitol Hill, the AOA helped make children's vision a top health care priority at the national level. In fact, an AOA-backed provision included in the new law specifically designates children's vision as an "essential health benefit."

This now means that in 2014 all health plans participating within the new state-based health insurance exchanges will be required to provide a children's vision benefit. However, how "children's vision" is ultimately defined has yet to be determined by HHS officials, though it will make an enormous difference to millions of American families.

That's why AOA has made it a priority to ensure that top HHS officials fully understand the issue and the stakes for America's kids. As evidenced in a special video message to the AOA from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (http://tinyurl.com/25qumop ), these efforts are making a difference.

In the coming weeks and months, however, it will be important that concerned Senators and House members who support comprehensive eye exams weigh-in with Secretary Sebelius and help make certain that the children's vision benefit is not hijacked or diminished in any way during what could be a very lengthy and confusing regulatory process.

Posted in: Affordable Care Act, AOA, Health care, Health insurance, Kathleen Sebelius, United States Congress, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services