Preventive benefits, exchanges and coverage options: A catch-all of health law implementation news

Media outlets report on a range of health law issues, including the latest estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the number of Medicare beneficiaries getting free preventive care, what difficulties may be ahead for health exchanges and the adminstration's new "Enroll America" campaign.

CQ HealthBeat: HHS Releases Number Of People Receiving Free Preventive Care And Drug Discounts
About 18 million people in fee-for-service Medicare received a free preventive service during the first seven months of this year, and nearly 1.3 million beneficiaries received a discount on their brand-name prescription drugs when they hit a Medicare coverage gap, according to new estimates released by the Department of Health and Human Services. The benefits were made available through the 2010 health care law. The preventive services were used by about 56 percent of the beneficiaries in the program, said HHS officials (Adams, 9/8).

Politico Pro: Exchange Subsidies Could Hit Speed Bump
Could a drafting error make it impossible for the feds to provide premium subsidies to individuals in federally run exchanges? The question has been getting attention since Wednesday, when Investors Business Daily reported that a problem in the language of the Affordable Care Act could trip up any effort to give the subsidies to people in a federal "fallback" exchange. The ACA specifies that exchange subsidies are available to those purchasing insurance through "an exchange established by the state under 1311," the section that describes state-run exchanges. It does not outline similar eligibility for those buying insurance through a fallback exchange set up by HHS if a state does not set up an exchange of its own (Feder, 9/9).

Modern Healthcare: 'Enroll America' To Tout Benefits Of Reform
Even as a new effort is launched to highlight the coming benefits of the 2010 healthcare law, the Obama administration's public education campaign has taken on increasingly strong political overtones. Healthcare provider advocates and liberal groups will jointly launch "Enroll America" next week to spread the word about coverage options that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will bring in 2014 for more than 30 million more people, they revealed today (Daly, 9/8).