Implementation update: What health law changes will be evident in 2013

The Wall Street Journal reports on how the 2010 health law might impact consumers' health coverage in 2013. In addition, CQ HealthBeat examines what might become of insurance exchanges if GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney wins the election.   

The Wall Street Journal: More Health-Law Changes Coming In 2013
Next year will see some of the many significant changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act, including easy-to-read plan summaries and caps on flexible spending accounts. The ability of health insurers to place limits on annual spending is also on its way out, while earlier reforms such as adding adult children to their parents' plans offer new options to consumers. Most of the really big changes-;including health-insurance exchanges and tax credits to help people buy coverage-;aren't coming into play until 2014. Still, the provisions going into effect in 2013, along with those that have already been introduced, can affect any changes you might want to make to your health coverage (Johnson, 10/21).

CQ HealthBeat: On Exchanges: Romney Victory May Not Mean Their Sudden End
A Romney victory in the presidential election campaign may not bring a quick end to the insurance exchanges created by the health care law. Perhaps surprisingly, some red states may still choose to avail themselves of money that would still be on the table to establish exchanges prior to any repeal of the overhaul law -; or even afterwards if there is replacement legislation. And if the much-watched Utah exchange is any indication, Romney-era health benefit marketplaces could become a vehicle to allow employers to embrace "defined contributions," an approach to taming health care costs Romney has advocated at least in the context of a Medicare overhaul (Reichard, 10/19).

In other news -

The Miami Herald: Archdiocese Of Miami Sues U.S. Agencies Over Health Care Mandates
The Archdiocese of Miami filed a lawsuit Friday against the leaders of three U.S. agencies, questioning the legality of a new federal mandate requiring religious organizations to provide healthcare coverage for employees that covers abortion drugs and contraception. At a news conference Friday at archdiocese headquarters in Miami Shores, Archbishop Thomas Wenski announced he had filed the suit in Miami federal court on behalf of the archdiocese, Catholic Health Services and Catholic Hospice against secretaries Kathleen Sebelius of Health and Human Services, Hilda Solis of the Department of Labor and Timothy Geithner of the Treasury (De Leon, 10/19).