Consumer advocates join state insurance regulators in urging 'level playing field' for existing health plans and new multistate policies

In other health law implementation news, The Hill reports that the Obama administration will likely fall behind in implementing the CLASS Act. Meanwhile, the sweeping overhaul gets a vote of confidence from former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

The Hill: Advocates Back Regulators' Call For Equal Standards Among Plans
Consumer advocates on Wednesday echoed state insurance regulators' call for a "level playing field" between existing health care plans and new multistate policies created by health care reform. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners recently told the federal government that multistate plans should still have to comply with state regulations and meet all the requirements of the health care law. NAIC's consumer advocates echoed that position Wednesday (Baker, 8/24).

The Hill: CBO Expects Delay In New Health Care Program
The Obama administration will likely fall a year behind schedule in implementing a controversial piece of health care reform, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The budget update that CBO released Wednesday assumes a one-year delay in the law's new insurance program for long-term care. The program -; Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or CLASS -; has faced serious skepticism ever since its inclusion in the health care overhaul. Under the health care law, CLASS is slated to begin collecting premiums next year. But CBO said Wednesday that "based on the pace of implementation actions thus far," it doesn't expect the program to start taking in money until 2013 (Baker, 8/24).

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Politico: Bill Frist: Obama Health Care Here To Stay
President Barack Obama's health care law isn't going anywhere even if the individual mandate is struck down by the courts, says heart surgeon and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who sees the law's provisions as mostly good. "It's going to survive," the Tennessee Republican said Wednesday at a health care conference in Sioux Falls, S.D. "It's not going to be repealed." Frist said that although he believes the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate provision should be scrapped, the law still will survive (Epstein, 8/25).