Associations News

Kaiser Family Foundation Provides Summary and Timeline of New Health Reform Law

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the comprehensive health reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordability Act.  The summary created by the Kaiser Family Foundation reflects provisions of the new law, and changes made by subsequent legislation, including provisions to expand coverage, control health care costs, and improve the health care delivery system.

The Foundation has also prepared a timeline detailing when specific provisions of the legislation are scheduled to take effect. It includes more than a dozen key provisions scheduled to take effect in 2010, including the creation of a national high-risk pool for people with pre-existing conditions that can’t buy insurance on their own, tax credits for small businesses that obtain health coverage for their workers and assistance for Medicare beneficiaries with high drug costs who get hit by the drug benefit’s coverage gap or “doughnut hole,” and continues through 2014, when the major reforms to expand access to health coverage are fully implemented.

You can view both the summary and the timeline by visiting their website.