What the health law's future holds

Even with the election in the rear view mirror, efforts to implement the healthcare law will continue to face challenges. Meanwhile, experts discuss what steps must be taken to control health care costs and to educate the public about the health overhaul.

The Hill: Five 'ObamaCare' Battles To Watch
Republicans aren't going to repeal "ObamaCare" in the next four years, but there's still plenty of room for both political fights and policy changes. Republicans have begun over the past two weeks to acknowledge -; albeit grudgingly -; that President Obama's reelection took repeal off the table for the next four years. Conservatives have responded by stepping up the pressure on Republican governors to stand in the law's way as much as possible at the state level, and governors do have considerable power over how the law is implemented. In Washington, deflated partisan rancor over the Affordable Care Act could be a blessing to industry groups with smaller, more targeted complaints about the law. Republican lawmakers and healthcare lobbyists say smaller fixes are more realistic if every minor issue doesn't blow up into a full-scale war over ObamaCare, and the appetite for that war is finally starting to wane (Baker, 11/18).

The Wall Street Journal: Remaking Health Care: Change The Way Providers Are Paid
In the debate over the nation's finances, health care is one of the biggest items on the agenda. How do we bring down soaring costs as more people get coverage and more baby boomers head into retirement? The Wall Street Journal's Laura Landro moderated the task-force discussion on remaking health care (Landro, 11/19).

Politico: McClellan: Public Needs Education On Obamacare
Mark McClellan, who helped implement the Medicare prescription drug benefit for President George W. Bush, says the two parties should separate their political battles over Obamacare from the need for broad public education about how the law will affect ordinary people. Now at The Brookings Institution, McClellan was the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator when the largely GOP-designed drug benefit was rolled out from 2003 to 2006. He says the two parties had very strong differences over the prescription drug law but were able to have two parallel tracks -; one fighting about the policy and one helping to explain what it would mean to a constituent (Kenen, 11/19).