One year after the Patient Protecting and Affordable Health Care Law was passed; around 2 million senior citizens in the state of Ohio will be eligible for free annual preventative health exams including things like colonoscopies and mammograms.

Also this year, health insurance companies are required by law to spend at least 80% of the premiums they collect from their patients on actual medical care under the threat of having to send out rebate checks to their customers if they don’t comply with the rule. Because of this, the people of Ohio will know that they money they’re putting into their health insurance is actually going to improve their health and the health of those in their state, instead of just filling the pockets of big-time insurance company executives.

According to the Faithful Reform of Health Care of churches in Northern Ohio, “Passing the new law is a beginning – not an end. Transforming our broken system of health care will require the same kind of vision and investment that led to modernizing other systems in our country’s infrastructure”.

Other provisions under the new health bill include that children under the age of 26 can stay on their parents’ health care plan, and insurance companies cannot stop covering a sick person just because a mistake was made on their application. People also do not have to pay co-pays for basic medical check-ups, and companies can’t refuse coverage of women.