In The Spotlight

Full Steam Ahead: Implementation Opportunities and Challenges for Employers and Consumers

Please join us for a discussion about health reform implementation issues employers and consumers face. The luncheon briefing will take place on September 8 from 12:15 to 2 p.m. in Senate Dirksen Office Building, Room G50. Panelists are: Terry Gardiner, Small Business Majority; Steve Finan, American Cancer Society; Steve Wocjik, National Business Group on Health (invited); and Janet Trautwein, National Association of Health Underwriters. Ed Howard of the Alliance will moderate. Info & Registration 

What challenges need to be overcome by the states to implement various provisions in the health reform law? This briefing, cosponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked into how the states and the federal government are working together to implement the law -- both near-term provisions, such as high-risk pools, as well as other provisions farther down the road, such as setting up exchanges and instituting changes to Medicaid eligibility.  Read More

Diabetes and obesity have evolved from a national public health concern to a problem of epidemic proportions -- a very costly problem. The direct medical costs and the indirect costs of diabetes are estimated at $174 billion yearly. This briefing looked at the scope of the problem, and some promising solutions. Sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the United Health Foundation.  Read More

Now that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is law, what’s happening behind the scenes (as well as in public) to implement it? This briefing, cosponsored by the Alliance and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, looked at key tools and levers available to the federal government, including formal rulemaking and other policy processes, as well as efforts by stakeholders and others to affect final policies.  Read More