What Does The Health Law’s Future Hold For Workers, Uninsured People, Employers And Others?

News outlets examine a variety of issues related to the health law's implementation, ranging from how it might impact workers in the year ahead, to those who will not gain any benefit from the law as well as the importance of location and other news about how the overhaul will affect the health care marketplace.

Politico: With Obamacare Near, What’s In Store For Workers
With all the hullabaloo over Obamacare, you might think a radical transformation of your health insurance is imminent. But the noisy claims from both sides notwithstanding, the reality is that the changes next year are likely to be pretty subtle for the vast majority of the 170 million who get insurance through the workplace (Norman, 9/9).

The Washington Post: Left Behind: Stories From Obamacare’s 31 Million Uninsured
The Affordable Care Act, the most sweeping health care program created in a half century, is expected to extend coverage to 25 million Americans over the next decade, according to the most recent government estimates. But that will still leave a projected 31 million people without insurance by 2023. Those left out include undocumented workers and poor people living in the 21 states, such as Virginia, that have so far declined to expand Medicaid under the statute, commonly called Obamacare (Kliff and Sun, 9/8).

Los Angeles Times: As Healthcare Law Rolls Out, Its Effects Will Depend On Your State
Americans who live in states backing the Affordable Care Act will receive substantial protections and assistance unavailable to residents in states still fighting the 2010 law. That could mean confusion and higher insurance premiums for millions of consumers in states resisting the law. Leaders in these resistant states have not set up consumer hot lines. Several state insurance regulators are refusing to make sure health plans offer new protections required by the law, such as guaranteed coverage for people who are ill (Levey, 9/6).

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Checking The Facts Behind ACA Claims
Lori Robertson has been covering the Affordable Care Act from the earliest debates on it in 2009. A journalist for FactCheck.org, the nonpartisan nonprofit that monitors the accuracy of e-mails, viral claims, and statements by politicians, Robertson researches and writes about many statements involving the ACA. "We fact-check all sides," she said (Calandra, 9/8).

Politico: In Hawaii, Firms Like Longtime Employer Mandate
Obamacare’s requirement that large companies offer health insurance may be polarizing for much of the nation — but it had Hawaiians at Aloha. Unlike its 49 counterparts, Hawaii has been living with a strict employer mandate for nearly 40 years. And as businesses nationwide celebrate a one-year delay in the similar Obamacare requirement that they cover workers, supporters of Hawaii’s law say theirs is proof that the rest of the country could adjust — and even learn to like it (Cheney, 9/9).

Kaiser Health News: Nurse Practitioners Try New Tack To Expand Foothold In Primary Care
Nurse practitioners say efforts to expand primary care to millions of Americans under the health law are hampered by insurance industry practices that limit or exclude their participation. Despite laws in 17 states and the District of Columbia allowing them to practice independently, nurses with advanced degrees say some insurers still don’t accept them into their credentialed networks as primary care providers, while others restrict them mainly to rural areas (Appleby, 9/8).