Medicare is helping you become an informed Medicare consumer.

PCIP is making a difference in many people’s lives. A new report out today shows that while many PCIP enrollees have serious and expensive illnesses, they were likely to delay receiving needed care due to lack of insurance. PCIP has worked quickly to help connect Americans with the health insurance and medical care they need. Unlike many existing high risk pools, which have waiting periods before coverage of pre-existing conditions begin, PCIP enrollees can receive needed care right away.

The National Health Service Corps’ Students to Service Loan Repayment Program, made possible by the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, provides financial support to fourth year medical students who are committed to a career in primary care in exchange for their service in communities with limited access to care. This program provides loan repayment assistance of up to $120,000 to medical students (MDs and DOs) in their last year of education. In return, they commit to serve in a health professional shortage area upon completion of a primary care residency program.

We want to talk to you about the law’s impact on the Latino community. On Tuesday, February 21st, at 3:00pm EST Mayra Alvarez, Director of Public Health Policy at HHS, will be available on Twitter at @HHSgov to answer questions about how the law helps the Latino community get a fair shot at better care and lower costs. We’ll also be teaming up with National Council of La Raza, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, and Families USA. We will be accepting and responding to questions in English and Spanish, depending on what language the question is asked.

Today, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) released an updated annual report showing that, for the second year in a row, anti-fraud efforts have recovered more than $4.1 billion in fraudulent Medicare payments. Compare this to just $2.14 billion recovered in FY 2008. Prosecutions are way up too: the number of individuals charged with fraud increased from 821 in fiscal year 2008 to 1,430 in fiscal year 2011 – nearly a 75 percent increase.

Many children born preterm require additional medical attention and early intervention services, special education and may have conditions that affect their productivity as adults. To help reduce the rising number of premature births and ensure more babies are born healthy, HHS announced the Strong Start initiative, designed to reduce preterm births and improve outcomes for newborns and pregnant women.

In 2011 about 3.6 million people with Medicare benefited from donut hole discounts—saving a total of $2.1 billion, or an average of $604 per person. And a new report released today finds that these discounts and other parts of the Affordable Care Act will lead to even bigger savings in the years ahead. According to the report, the average person with Medicare will save approximately $4,200 from 2011 to 2021, while those with high prescription drug costs will save much more – as much as $16,000 over the same period. This is especially good news for people with chronic conditions such a diabetes and high blood pressure who must take their medication every day for many years.

Tune in to the State of Women’s Health video townhall where HHS Secretary Sebelius will talk about the health care law and how it helps American women.

Read how the Obama Administration has made LGBT health and well-being a priority.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is putting new lessons and recommendations into practice. The Innovation Center is charged with engaging doctors, hospitals, and other providers that want to try new approaches to keeping their patients healthy and out of the hospital. Here are just a few examples of how the Innovation Center has already adopted some of CBO’s recommendations.

Today, we’re using the rate review tool to protect consumers and crack down on unreasonably high rate increases. We’re announcing that Trustmark Life Insurance Company has unreasonably raised health insurance premiums in: Alabama, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wyoming – which would affect nearly 10,000 residents across these five States.

From strengthening Medicare to expanding access to preventive services to holding insurance companies accountable – young adults, families, and seniors have begun to see benefits from the Affordable Care Act. Here are eight ways the law helps Americans in 2011.

Starting today, provider groups from across the country will get support in providing better, more coordinated health care through an initiative called the Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) Model. This initiative will advance the best practices of primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals and other providers in coordinating care for patients with Medicare. There are 32 leading health care organizations from across the country that will participate in this new initiative made possible by the Affordable Care Act.

The provision in the law allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance until age 26 has resulted in 2.5 million young people gaining coverage, according to analysis based on new data released today by the National Center for Health Statistics.