Health Reform 101 | National Coalition on Health Care

Health Care Reform: Summary
This summary, by Families USA, provides a snapshot of the major changes made to America’s health system as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Changes include the development of state insurance exchanges, expansion of the Medicaid program, tax credits for small businesses to help business owners afford coverage for their employees and various insurance market reforms intended to provide greater protection and affordability for consumers.

Health Care Reform: Implementation Timeline
This timeline, developed by the Kaiser Family Foundation, highlights a number of health reform’s major components and the proposed schedule for their implementation. As noted in the timeline, some of the provisions took effect immediately upon enactment of the health reform law, such as banning insurers from having lifetime caps on an individual’s benefits, while other provisions will not be implemented until 2014, such as establishing health insurance exchanges in each state.

Health Care Reform: Glossary 
As part of a joint project between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Hirsch Health Law and Policy Program at George Washington University, Health Reform GPS has developed a helpful glossary of terms associated with health care and health care reform. In addition to terms and phrases, the glossary also provides definitions for various health reform acronyms, to help one navigate the “alphabet soup” of health sytem reform.

Health Care Reform: Frequently Asked Questions 
In response to a number of similar questions from health care consumers, particularly seniors, and employers trying to determine how health reform will impact them, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has released a list of frequently asked questions with accompanying answers. This is a resource to answer some of the basic questions regarding the new health care reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.