"The facts supports this, considering that 1 in 5 African Americans [19 percent] do not have any health insurance,'' Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, said in a conference call on Tuesday, after the president signed the historic bill in to law.

Health care reform...

1. prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions under all new plans. A large swath of African American children suffer from asthma, obesity and diabetes, all diseases classified as preexisting conditions by most health care providers, which made acquiring health insurance difficult for children.

2. allows uninsured adults with preexisting conditions access to a high-risk pool that will give them collective purchasing power to reduce insurance costs. Once the insurance exchange marketplace is up and running in 2011, companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to anyone based on their health status. Nearly half of African Americans suffer from a chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, lupus and diabetes, compared with 40% of the general
population, so this change is a great benefit for the community.

3. precludes insurance companies from dropping sick patients from their rolls. Known as rescission, insurance companies used to simply drop seriously ill patients from their plans, including those recently diagnosed with diseases such as cancer or kidney disease.

4. increase the number of primary care doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Health care providers will work with the Health Resources and Services Administration National Health Service Corps to identify, recruit and train more people of color to become health care professionals by providing scholarships for students who plan to practice in underserved areas. Additionally, the program would extend financial incentives to participants to work in high-need minority communities.

5. bars insurance companies from imposing annual and lifetime limits on coverage. "Now," Jarrett said, "all Americans can have the peace of mind that the care and treatment they need will be provided."

6. requires insurance plans to cover screenings and vaccines without any deductibles or co-pays. A large part of this change, officials said, will help reduce health care disparities between African Americans and other groups. In the past, blacks failed to receive routine immunizations and screenings for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and mammograms because they were cost prohibitive. The result was chronic and fatal outcomes to treatable diseases.

7. requires insurance companies to allow children to remain on their parent's plan until the age of 26. With the widening gap of unemployment between blacks and other groups, 30 percent of young adults are finding themselves without health care coverage as they they attempt to strike out on their own to start careers. Before the reform, these youth were not able to stay on their parent's insurance plans for health care coverage.

8. requires insurance plans to cover prescription drugs for seniors. The elderly will no longer have to cover the cost for prescription drugs when their benefits run out. In the short term, seniors will receive a $250 rebate check starting June 15th to help defray the costs of prescription drugs.

"We are determined to fill the donut hole and help our seniors continue to receive the very important drugs they need at prices that they can afford,'' Jarrett said. "We've all heard stories about senior citizens who ration their medicine and cut their drugs in half. That causes more harm than not even taking the medication. They are doing that simply because they can't afford the prescription drugs.''

9. bars insurance companies from extending unreasonable rate hikes. Starting in 2011, the measure will help states require insurance companies to submit justifications for all requested premium increases. This is important for African Americans because the community presently spends more on health care than any other group. The change, an official said, offers protection for consumers to keep medical costs reasonable and manageable.

10. expands funding for community health centers through an 11 billion investment, allowing almost double the number of patients to receive treatment over the next five years. The change is expected to play a critical role in helping to lower health care disparities in the African American community by expanding access to medical care through the centers. The centers always have been part of low-income, minority neighborhoods, but over the years funding cutbacks resulted in understaffing or forced the doors to be shuttered. (Funding takes place in the next fiscal year.)