Other unknowns in health care rollout
Amid the many pathways to success or disaster facing the nation’s troubled health reform law are two on which a panel of health care experts agreed: It will continue to be a political hot potato, and come Jan. 1 it will change U.S. health care. With the new year, four key provisions of the law go into effect that will move the United States closer to joining the ranks of nations that offer citizens universal access to health care. Insurance companies will no longer be able to exclude people with pre-existing conditions. Coverage plans purchased through state health insurance exchanges will go into effect, and those covered by the expanded Medicaid program will see their benefits take effect. Jan. 1 will also see what may be the law’s most unpopular provision go into effect, the individual mandate that requires people to carry health insurance and levies a fine if they don’t. “We’re...