While major pieces of health reform don't go into effect until 2014, major pieces go into effect much quicker. The Associated Press writes about one big piece - allowing young adults under the age of 26 to stay on their parent's insurance plans:

Congress voted to overhaul the health care system on a Sunday. On Monday, Patti Lawson e-mailed her employer's human resources office to ask how soon she could get her 22-year-old daughter back on her health insurance.

In about six months, the new law will allow at least 2 million young adults to be covered by their parents' policies. These are the "millennials," those who came of age in the new century and now are struggling to get on their feet during the worst slump since the Depression.

Many can't find jobs, and many who are employed don't have health coverage from their employers.

The law will allow young adults to stay on or return to their parents' insurance until age 26. To qualify, young people must be "dependents" of their parents. They don't necessarily have to live under the same roof.

Current federal law has no minimum age for allowing people to stay on plans as dependents, and most policies allow children to stay on until they are 18, or until they graduate college. Some states force insurance companies to cover dependents until they are much older - into their 30s in some places - and these higher standards will supersede federal law. Still, this is the first time there has been a federal standard in place, and it will affect 2 million young adults - a demographic particularly struggling to find work, not to mention work that offers health benefits.

According to Kaiser Health News, which notes that some families will have very problematic coverage gaps until September when the new laws go into effect, the population this law serves is really in need:

Young adults make up one of the biggest groups of the uninsured. Forty-five percent of those between the ages of 19 and 29 were uninsured for at least part of 2009, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey last summer of 2,002 young adults. This figure is significantly higher than the 30 percent rate reported for 2008 by the Kaiser Family
Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and may be a result of the continuing economic downturn. (Kaiser Health News is part of the foundation.)

Since many health plans require adult children to be full-time students in order to stay on their parents’ plans, young adults are at particularly high risk for losing coverage when they leave high school or college. The Commonwealth Fund survey found that although more than three-quarters of college students had health insurance while they were in school, 28 percent lost their coverage when they graduated or left school. Nearly half of those who were able to get new insurance experienced a gap in coverage; in many cases they were uninsured for a year or more.

It also should be noted that this policy will take a chunk out of insurance company profits.

The most profitable plans insurance companies sell are high-deductible junk insurance with medical loss ratios in the 70% range or even much lower and premium prices aimed at the out-of-work "young invincible" market. Allowing these people to stay on their parent's plan - usually a group health plan, the "blue chip" of the insurance market, with lower profit margins, higher medical loss ratios, and more stable and better benefits - takes away a big chunk of this customer pool, as people are more likely to have good jobs with good benefits the older they get.

Come September, young adults are winning, and the insurance companies are losing.

NEWS

Angela Braly: WellPoint CEO Pay Jumps By 51 Percent - AP

The president and CEO of health insurer WellPoint Inc. received a 51 percent boost in compensation in 2009, mainly on larger grants of stock options and a performance bonus as profit and shares gained ground.

New Health Initiatives Put Spotlight on Prevention - New York Times

Amid all the rancor leading up to passage of the new health care law, Congress with little fanfare approved a set of wide-ranging public initiatives to prevent disease and encourage healthy behavior.

U.S. Wealthy Lack Easy Loopholes to Offset Obama’s Tax Plans - Business Week

Economist Arthur Laffer, 69, took a radical approach to rising income taxes four years ago: he moved to Tennessee from California.

Health reform final package ensures more funding for primary care - American Medial News

A newly enacted package of amendments will boost Medicaid rates and provide more community health center funding, but physician leaders say more help is needed.

Californians take generally positive view of healthcare reform - LA Times

A new Times/USC poll shows voters saying by a 46%-29% margin they would be more likely to vote for a politician who had backed the health bill. On immigration, the poll found continued polarization.

NEWS

2 million eager for health care on parents' plans - AP

Congress voted to overhaul the health care system on a Sunday. On Monday, Patti Lawson e-mailed her employer's human resources office to ask how soon she could get her 22-year-old daughter back on her health insurance.

Obama, in Maine, Needles Republicans Over Calls to Repeal Health Care Overhaul - New York Times

President Obama continued on Thursday what might be called his Go-for-It Tour, traveling to this Northeastern state — represented by two moderate Republican senators who balked at his health care overhaul — to dare the opposition party to run against it this fall.

Health care hikes rejected - Boston Globe

Making good on Governor Deval Patrick’s promise to reject health insurance rate increases deemed excessive, the state Division of Insurance yesterday denied 235 of 274 increases proposed by insurers for plans covering individuals and small businesses.

Insurer Fights Maine Regulator on Premiums - Wall Street Journal

As insurers wrestle with the changes coming from the federal health overhaul in Washington, they also face challenges at the state level from regulators seeking to head off big premium hikes. A court case in Maine underscores the tensions, with a health insurer battling a decision that zeroed out its profit to keep consumers' rates down.

Long-Term Care Program Debuts In New Health Law - NPR

It got precious little debate in either the House or Senate, and President Obama didn't even mention it when he signed the huge health bill into law. But buried within the new health care overhaul is the first-ever federal insurance program to help Americans meet the often crushing costs of long-term care.

Insurance Protection For Adult Children Won't Come Fast Enough For Some Parents - Kaiser Health News

When Allison McMaster Young heard that the new health overhaul law would allow her and her husband to keep their 21-year-old son on their family health insurance policy until age 26, she breathed a sigh of relief. Alex will graduate from Fordham University on May 21. Under the terms of the family plan they have through her husband’s job, he’ll lose his coverage the very next day because he’ll no longer be a full-time student. Keeping Alex on the family policy would be by far the simplest and most affordable way to keep him covered after graduating.

NEWS

Obama to promote health bill's business benefits - AP

President Barack Obama is promoting his health overhaul's benefits for small businesses as he tries to rally public support behind the new law scorned by Republicans and protesters

GOP hopes repeal-the-bill fire won't burn them - AP

Top Republicans are starting to worry about their health care rallying cry "Repeal the bill." It just might singe GOP candidates in November's elections, they fear, if voters begin to see benefits from the new law.

Health care's next chapter: A play for hearts and minds - USA Today

The election is seven months away, but for Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus it may as well be tomorrow.

FactCheck.org Smacks Down The GOP's "16,500 New IRS Agents" Lie - Media Matters

In the final weeks of the health care debate, Republicans repeated the baseless claim that the Affordable Care Act required "16,500 additional IRS agents." The experts at FactCheck.org examined the claim yesterday and deemed it "wildly inaccurate."

States Hope New Funding From Health Law Will Bolster Unique Programs - Kaiser Health News

Starting today, states can choose to take the first steps toward the massive expansion of insurance coverage that is the health overhaul's chief goal. And for some states, that move could have the benefit of reviving funding for state-run programs that insure low-income adults.

Cuccinelli’s office denies records on health-care suit - Richmond Times-Dispatch

Records that would document the time, resources and meetings involved in the lawsuit that the Virginia attorney general's office filed against federal health-care legislation either don't exist or are classified as confidential "working papers" of the agency, a ranking deputy said yesterday.

Throughout the health reform debate, the Chamber of Commerce, far from being an independent institution representing its members, instead acted as a front group for the health insurance companies, funneling at least $10 to $20 million through its doors directly from the insurance industry for misleading attack ads in a futile attempt to kill health reform.

Now that health reform has become law, the Chamber is continuing to play the role of insurance company lap dog.

In keeping close to its corporate masters, the Chamber first threw a wrench in the tea party-fueled repeal movement, declaring it won't work for a repeal of the new law. (This issue has split the Republican party wide open, with many prominent Republicans arguing for repeal and many others arguing against it.) It then jumped on board with the insurance industry's game plan: Attempt to duck new responsibilities, which it has so far tried and failed to do surrounding the issue of covering children with pre-existing conditions.

The Chamber signaled its cooperation in a letter dated March 29th from Chamber President Thomas Donohue to the Chamber Board of Directors.

In the letter, Donohue lays out the insurance industry's strategy: Work against implementation of health reform by creating as many holes in regulations as possible:

…we will assign a team of our most skilled and experienced staff to participate in the years-long process of writing the thousands of pages of federal regulations that will implement the many provisions in this legislation.

We will be submitting comments, proposing language, and seeking changes in an effort to minimize the potentially harmful impacts of this bill on our members and the country. Should federal regulators attempt to exceed legislative mandates or try for end-runs around the lawful rulemaking process, Chamber lawyers will take legal action.

But they're not stopping at simply trying to evade laws. The Chamber will also spend $50 million to try and defeat Democrats who voted for health reform in 2010 - mostly on the same type of misleading ads they've been running up until now. This money, like their previous money, likely comes directly from the insurance companies, who are too timid to level their political attacks under their own name.

As I noted yesterday, the spat with insurance companies over covering care for children with pre-existing conditions is just the first test of how the insurance industry will respond to both the letter and spirit of the new law. Through the Chamber, they will endeavor to weasel out of anything and everything they can.

It's up to the Department of Health and Human Services, the President, and Congress to make sure they follow the new law of the land, or to enact new legislation and rules to force them to comply (or introduce, say, a public option to provide a public interest alternative). The health of the American people depends on it.

NEWS

Business Bids to Shape Health Changes - Wall Street Journal

Chamber of Commerce Plans Effort to Challenge New Regulations and Unseat Those Who Voted for Law

Obama takes final steps on reform - Politico

President Barack Obama went across the Potomac River on Tuesday to put the final touches on health care reform and enact a massive overhaul of the nation’s student loan system.

Dem AGs rebuff GOP govs on health-care lawsuits - Washington Post

Republican governors in two western states want to join in legal challenges to recent federal health care legislation, but each is meeting stiff resistance from the same obstacle: an attorney general from the rival party.

GOP leaders temper call for repealing health law, saying jobs, economy are key to fall races - LA Times

Top Republicans are increasingly worried that GOP candidates this fall might be burned by a fire that's roaring through the conservative base: demand for the repeal of President Barack Obama's new health care law.

The health-care law: Answers to frequently asked questions - Washington Post

The health-care bill is more than 2,000 pages long — with hundreds more to come from regulators filling in the details. It will take years before all the details are set and people can see how the plan will affect their situation. But here are some commonly asked questions that can be answered now.

Small businesses fret over details of health law - Washington Post

Small-business owner Joe Ascioti says Massachusetts' 2006 health care law has left him facing $15,000 in fines since it took effect. Now, he's worried the nation's new health care overhaul could bring similar woes to employers nationwide.

Lacking a public option, the major check on insurance company price increases and abuses in the new health reform law is managed competition and regulation. That check is already being put to the test by the insurance companies.

In six months, the new law says children can no longer be denied care for pre-existing conditions. But the insurance companies immediately said they'd found a loophole:

Insurers agree that if they provide insurance for a child, they must cover pre-existing conditions. But, they say, the law does not require them to write insurance for the child and it does not guarantee the “availability of coverage” for all until 2014.

William G. Schiffbauer, a lawyer whose clients include employers and insurance companies, said: “The fine print differs from the larger political message. If a company sells insurance, it will have to cover pre-existing conditions for children covered by the policy. But it does not have to sell to somebody with a pre-existing condition. And the insurer could increase premiums to cover the additional cost.”

Secretary Sebelius immediately fired back with a letter to Karen Ignagni, head of AHIP, the insurance industry's main lobbying arm. The letter made clear the administration's intention to issue regulations to enforce both the spirit and letter of the new law, including covering children with pre-existing conditions and providing both access to plans and benefits. And today, it seems the insurance industry relented:

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the industry's top lobbyist said insurers will accept new regulations to dispel uncertainty over a much-publicized guarantee that children with medical problems can get coverage starting this year.

…

"Health plans recognize the significant hardship that a family faces when they are unable to obtain coverage for a child with a pre-existing condition," Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, said in a letter to Sebelius. Ignagni said that the industry will "fully comply" with the regulations, expected within weeks.

It remains to be seen exactly how this particular battle will play out. While insurance companies say they'll comply with regulations to issue policies and provide benefits to children with pre-existing conditions, there is no talk about the cost of such policies. Still, for families currently unable to get coverage for their sick children at any price, even this modest change in practices will be a relief, though the bigger changes - including the subsidies to make insurance not only accessible but affordable - don't go into effect until 2014.

This is the first of what will be many battles with the insurance companies over regulation. The administration and the new regulatory structures put into place by health reform won the first skirmish. But there's no doubt that insurance companies will throw many obstacles in our way as we move towards guaranteed health care for all. We'll have to keep fighting them and their army of lawyers and lobbyists as health reform is implemented and improved upon in the years to come.

It's still true that if the insurance companies win, we lose.

NEWS

Insurance industry agrees to fix kids coverage gap - AP

After battling President Barack Obama's health care overhaul the better part of a year, the insurance industry said Monday it won't try to block his efforts to fix a potentially embarrassing glitch in the new law.

Obama set to sign health care 'fixes' bill - CNN

President Obama is set to claim final victory on his top domestic priority Tuesday by signing into law a package of changes to the newly enacted health care reform bill.

Overhaul Will Lower the Costs of Being a Woman - New York Times

Being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition. That’s the new mantra, repeated triumphantly by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Barbara A. Mikulski and other advocates for women’s health. But what does it mean?

Stimulus stumbles hold lessons for health care sell - Politico

As President Barack Obama  prepares to roll out the health care reform plan, he can look to one recent case study in how not to do it – the economic stimulus package.

Companies Push to Repeal Provision of Health Law - New York Times

An association representing 300 large corporations urged President Obama and Congress on Monday to repeal a provision of the health care overhaul that prompted AT&T, Caterpillar and other companies to announce substantial charges for the current quarter.

Reports continue to stream in of people going out and thanking their Members of Congress for voting YES on health reform.

In Colorado, they visited Senators Bennet and Udall:

In Missouri, they thanked Congressman Carnahan:

In Pennsylvania, they're thanking Congressman Kanjorski:

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a large group welcomed home Congresswoman Gwen Moore at the airport:

And Congressman Kagan, also from Wisconsin:

In Washington, they hailed the passage of reform and protested against a planned state lawsuit against the new law:

In Florida, they thanked Congressman Grayson and Congresswoman Kosmas:

In Indiana, they were out thanking Congressman Ellsworth:

In North Dakota, the people were out thanking Representative Pomeroy:

In Arkansas, they were out thanking Representative Snyder:

In Maine, they thanked Congressman Michaud:

In Minnesota, they thanked Representative Walz:

And more to come as health reform becomes the law of the land.

NEWS

Coverage Now for Sick Children? Check Fine Print - New York Times

Just days after President Obama signed the new health care law, insurance companies are already arguing that, at least for now, they do not have to provide one of the benefits that the president calls a centerpiece of the law: coverage for certain children with pre-existing conditions.

Health-care overhaul leaves Democrats in stable condition - Washington Post

After steering the landmark health-care reform bill through Congress, the Democratic Party's leaders have emerged mostly unscathed, according to a new Washington Post poll, but they have not received a notable boost in approval ratings.

Closing Medicare Drug Gap Helps Democrats Sell Reform - Kaiser Health News

Now that the health overhaul has passed Congress, Democratic lawmakers are hoping to highlight its most immediate benefits. Chief among them: a plan to help millions of elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries pay for their medications by gradually eliminating a drug-coverage gap commonly known as the “doughnut hole.”

Health care law becomes personal for Dallas-area families - Dallas Morning News

Even among families that stand to benefit from last week's passage of the health care law, opinions are split.

Like many Democrats, some Dallas-area families see the overhaul as a historic achievement that will lead to better health care for millions of Americans.

GOP views Supreme Court as last line of defense on health reform - The Hill

Republicans view Chief Justice John Roberts and the Supreme Court as a last line of defense against the new healthcare reform law.