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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) - Healthcare Reform - requires new benefit standards to be made available in all new private health insurance policies, beginning on September 23, 2010.

Beginning on September 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) -- Healthcare Reform -- requires new benefit standards to be made available in all new private health insurance policies. However, these new standards will not change all health insurance policies in the same way, or at the same time. Today, eHealth , Inc., parent company of eHealthInsurance, released a list of answers to frequently asked questions about the way these new regulations are being applied to non-group -- individual -- health insurance policies.

Frequently Asked Questions: Question: Most of the major health reforms don't go into effect until 2014, so what's changing this year?

Answer: The major reforms go into effect in 2014, but there are five important changes that take place for plan/policy years beginning on or after September 23, 2010; six months after the bill was signed into law.

Those changes are:

• Added protection from rate increases: Insurance companies will need to publically disclose rate increases and provide justification before raising monthly premiums.
• Added protection from having insurance canceled: An Insurance company cannot cancel your policy except in cases of intentional
• misrepresentation or fraud.
• Coverage for preventive care: Certain preventive benefits, immunizations, and screenings will be covered with no cost-sharing     requirement.
• No lifetime maximums on health coverage: No lifetime limits on the dollar value of those health benefits deemed to be essential by the
• Department of Health and Human Services.
• No pre-existing condition exclusions for children: If you have children under the age of 19 with pre-existing medical conditions, you
• can add them to your family health insurance plan and their application for coverage cannot be denied due to a pre-existing condition.

Source: eHealth, Inc.