What the health law's future holds

Mar 25 2013

At the health law's three-year mark, news outlets look ahead to the major provisions slated to take effect in 2014, exploring their impact on insurance premiums and who might be left uncovered.

Politico: No Simple Procedure: Putting The Affordable Care Act Into Practice
Welcome to the eye of the Obamacare storm. This year represents a deceptively calm interlude -; after the partisan war whoops of "repeal and replace," and before 2014, when millions of Americans are supposed to get covered under the health care law. It's a year of nuts and bolts, trying to get many complicated moving parts in place for a policy that large swaths of the country still oppose (Cheney, 3/24).

The Hill: On Third Anniversary, Obama Touts Health Law's Benefits
President Obama on Saturday touted his landmark healthcare reform law on its third anniversary, but cautioned that there was "more work to do to implement" its provisions (Mali, 3/23).

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Obamacare's Effect On Premiums Debated
With full rollout of President Barack Obama's health care law just months away, attention is shifting from political battles to how it will affect health insurance premiums for millions of Americans. Some experts and studies predict sticker shock for people with individual coverage, who include about 5 percent of Georgians, though others say the fears are overblown. Workers with employer-based insurance, as well as those on Medicare and Medicaid, are expected to feel less financial fallout (Markiewicz and Williams, 3/24).

MPR News: U Study: After Reform, 1 In 10 Poor Will Lack Health Plan
A University of Minnesota study says 1 out of every 10 low-income people living in the state will still lack access to government health care coverage, despite the Medicaid expansion under the federal health care law. The law expands government coverage, said researcher Lynn Blewett, but there will still be low-income people without access to coverage: illegal immigrants, who are excluded from government programs, and some residents who are in the United States legally but have not been here long enough (Stawicki, 3/24).

The Medicare Newsgroup: CMS Innovation Center Continues Testing, Waiting for Results
With the goal of improving quality and cutting costs, the Affordable Care Act established The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) in January 2011 to test new methods of care delivery. However, the Innovation Center's initiatives remain in the early stages of implementation and testing, according the December 2012 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) "Report to Congress" on the Innovation Center's progress (Solana, 3/22).