Status checks on the health overhaul's implementation

News outlets detail various progress reports from administration officials as well as several studies. 

CQ HealthBeat: HHS Tackling Employer Mandate Question For 2014
A top Health and Human Services official told a congressional panel on Wednesday that his office is still figuring out how employers will be asked to determine their workers' health insurance status once the overhaul law goes into effect. The issue is important because beginning in 2014, companies with 50 or more full-time workers will be required to provide health insurance coverage or face paying a penalty (Norman, 3/21).

The Hill: HHS Study: Health Law Guarantees Stable Coverage For Young Americans
President Obama's healthcare reform law not only helps young adults get coverage but also ensures they're able to keep it over time, the administration said in a new report released Wednesday to mark the law's second anniversary. Previous reports had shown that 2.5 million more young adults were insured in June 2011 than in September 2010 thanks to a provision of the law that requires insurers to allow people up to age 26 on their parents' plans (Pecquet, 3/21).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Report Finds Health Reform Helped State Children Get Preventive Care
Roughly 281,000 children in Wisconsin are receiving additional preventive health care benefits because of requirements imposed by federal health care reform, according to a study released Wednesday by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.  The federal law requires health plans introduced after Sept. 23, 2010, to cover all preventive services recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics with no co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance. Existing health plans were exempt from the new regulations (Boulton, 3/21).

Politico Pro: Report: Most States Enforce Law's Patient Protections
Virtually all the states -; with just one exception -; have made at least some effort to implement health care reform's so-called Patient's Bill of Rights, a new Commonwealth Fund report finds. The study found that most states have either acted through law or the regulatory process to align themselves with the Affordable Care Act's early insurance market reforms, like a ban on denying coverage to children because of pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health plans until age 26 (Millman, 3/22).

Modern Healthcare: Ariz. Lags In Reform Implementation, Study Finds
Despite the sweeping federal changes included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a new Commonwealth Fund study notes that "states continue to be the primary regulators of health insurance" and they are implementing the federal laws at varying speeds-;or, in the case of Arizona, not at all. The Commonwealth Fund study looks at 10 "early market reforms," collectively known as the Patient's Bill of Rights, which went into effect Sept. 23, 2010, and were designed to fill gaps in coverage such as banning lifetime or annual limits on benefits and retroactively cancelling coverage (Robeznieks, 3/22).