Despite appearances, agreement exists about some health care improvements

Mar 3 2014

USA Today notes that consensus can be found regarding five steps. In other implementation news, NBC News reports on a new service being offered by some tax preparers -- health insurance enrollment.  

USA Today: Finding Consensus On 5 Ways To Improve ACA
As President Obama hosted governors from both parties at the White House Sunday night, talk turned from how to repeal the Affordable Care Act to how best to deal with it now that it is law. As it turns out, there are several bipartisan improvements both fans and foes agree on (Kennedy, 2/27).

NBC News: Tax Preparers Offer New Service -- Signing You Up For Obamacare
You've got to do your taxes and now also get health care coverage. Why not do both at the same time? Two major tax preparation companies are making a big push this tax season to help customers sign up for now-mandatory health insurance. H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service are partnering with online insurance brokers GoHealth and Getinsured. They are steering customers to those brokers if the clients say they want to enroll in Obamacare insurance after getting their tax returns prepared. Given potential tax penalties under the new law, the companies see it as a natural fit-;and a potentially growing service (Mangan, 2/28).

Meanwhile -  

USA Today: Federally Funded Health Centers Brace For Financial Loss
Federally funded health care centers, already straining to makes ends meet, now are fighting to block a 70% cut in their funding next year. The more than 9,000 health clinic centers, which serve 22 million mostly poor patients, were supposed to be big beneficiaries when an estimated 7 million more people were enrolled in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act . So while losing $3.6 billion a year in federal funding in October 2015 would be a steep reduction in support, it hadn't seemed as problematic when the law passed four years ago as it does now (O'Donnell and McElhaney, 2/27).