Philadelphia, PA, March 17, 2011

The 11th Street Family Health Services, Drexel University Health Center run by nurses and Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, and the Family Planning Council will host a celebration of the first anniversary of the passing of the Affordable Care Act on March 24. Women’s Way leaders of the Raising Women’s Voices of Southeastern Pennsylvania coalition will be at Drexel’s 11th Street Health Center marking this milestone.

Signed by President Obama on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act puts in place comprehensive health insurance reforms that will roll out over the next four years and beyond. Most notable changes include: expanded coverage for young adults, small business tax credits and pre-existing condition insurance plans.

Additionally, Medicare beneficiaries stuck in the “donut hole” – an insurance coverage gap in which a person’s Medicare prescription drug benefit has run out and has to pay for all drug costs out-of-pocket for the remainder of the year – will receive a 50 percent discount for name-brand drugs.

The 11th Street Family Health Services, Drexel University Health Center is the result of a 14-year partnership between Drexel’s College of Nursing and Health Professions and residents of four public housing developments along the 11th Street corridor in North Philadelphia. The aim of the partnership is to improve the health status of the residents in this underserved community and build with them a place of their own where health care is delivered in response to their identified needs. More information is available at www.drexel.edu/11thStreet.