Next stage of health law triggers concern, confusion

News outlets report on the confusion that continues to surround the health law, especially as key provisions are about to take effect. Meanwhile, officials and activists strategize about how to educate consumers about their options.

Georgia Health News: Concern, Confusion Over The Next Stage Of Reform
In six months, Jimmy Rowalt will no longer have health insurance. For the past two and a half years, the 25-year-old Athens resident has worked at Highwire Lounge without worrying about the job's lack of health benefits. Now he's a manager there, working 45 to 55 hours a week. A rule allowing young adults to remain on their parents' health insurance policies until age 26 was one of the first provisions of the Affordable Care Act to go into effect, in September 2010. … Rowalt's options will be meager after his October birthday, when he will be dropped by his parents' insurance company (Murphy, 4/22).

CT Mirror: Strategizing On Helping The Uninsured With Health Care Reform
As the country gears up to launch the Affordable Health Act, one of the most difficult tasks will be to sell it to uninsured people who may have never heard of the word "co-pay" or know what a primary care physician is. That was the message of Alta Lash, a Connecticut community organizer who was one of several speakers from across the nation at a daylong roundtable discussion Monday on how to promote health equity through "Obamacare." The event attracted about 200 policymakers, social workers, physicians and researchers to the Mark Twain House in Hartford for a discussion of how to eliminate health disparities through the expanded coverage that will take effect in January (Merritt, 4/22).

CNN Money: Millions Eligible For Obamacare Subsidies, But Most Don't Know It
Nearly 26 million Americans could be eligible for health insurance subsidies next year, but most don't know it. That's because relatively few people are familiar with provisions in the Affordable Care Act, aka "Obamacare," that will provide tax credits to low- and middle-income consumers to help them purchase health coverage through state-run insurance exchanges (Luhby, 4/23).