Health law opponents eye strategies to delay implementation

Oct 20 2012

However, this approach may be fraught with difficulties. Meanwhile, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official offered assurances that the government and business sector could work together to fix the nation's health system.  

Politico Pro: ACA Delay Strategy Could Backfire
If they can't kill "Obamacare," the law's opponents are starting to look at a backup plan: Delay it. That's an idea that's being floated by some conservatives outside Capitol Hill, and it's something that's likely to get a serious look early next year if President Barack Obama wins a second term. The reality, though, is that pushing back implementation of several of the law's key programs would be far more difficult than just fussing with the calendar. Proponents of the idea say the Obama administration has been too slow to provide pivotal details about how the states will need to implement the law's health insurance exchanges -; the key piece of the law that's due to be in effect on Jan. 1, 2014 (Haberkorn, 10/18).

California Healthline: Local, National Reforms Both Needed, Policy Leaders Told
Although their approaches may appear to be at odds with each other at the onset, a top federal bureaucrat and a national business leader assured health policy leaders Wednesday that government and commercial interests can work together effectively to reform the country's health care system. "We'll figure it out together. We may not figure it out as quickly as people might like, but we will get there," said Richard Gilfillan, director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Gilfillan and Andrew Webber, president and CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health, shared the podium to deliver a tandem farewell address at the National Academy for State Health Policy's 25th annual conference (Lauer, 10/18).