By 2014, every American citizen or legal resident will have access to health care insurance, regardless of their age, sex, race, family history, or health condition. The health care reform bill states that it will be against the law to deny health insurance to anyone for any reason including preexisting health conditions. When requesting health insurance quotes, rates will not increase due to health history or condition.

Young people, under age 19, will be the first to benefit from the new health care reform bill. This benefit became available six months after the bill was signed. The same benefit will be available to adults on January 1, 2014. Until then, adults with preexisting conditions will be able to sign up for health insurance through a national high risk insurance pool. This change is one of the main benefits for all of the population in the United States since people are at risk for a great number of health issues during their lives, regardless of their insurance status. Health insurance will no longer only protect against future health issues but will also cover current issues as well. This change means more preventive health problems will be covered in both the short and long runs.

Adults with preexisting conditions who receive coverage under the national high risk insurance pool will be able to shop for health insurance quotes from this pool of providers. The cost for health insurance will be subsidized to offset some costs that people with preexisting conditions may have. Subsidies will be available to everyone meeting certain conditions such as income and number of dependents. This reform affects everyone regardless of whether they are receiving coverage under an employer's health plan.

Many of the larger employer health plans eliminated the preexisting conditions clause when the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) went into effect. In other plans, the preexisting condition clause only applied once a person reached a preset cap of coverage dollars.

Smaller employer health plans will have wider coverage under the reform since the application process will no longer deny coverage. Wider access will more than likely increase costs in the rates for smaller employers because they will not have the same number of participants to distribute the costs to.

Lastly, regardless of whether a person is covered under an employer's health insurance plan or under an individual plan, health insurance providers will no longer be allowed to deny coverage for any preexisting health condition by 2014. Health insurance quotes and premiums will no longer be subject to previous health history. The historic health reform bill grants equal coverage for every American citizen or legal resident by 2014.