Tools From Our Partners

Click for more on each Resource:

Affordability | Consumer Information | Legal | Long-term Care | Medicaid | Overview | Private Insurance & Exchanges | Seniors | Small Business | State Practices | Youth

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Affordability

• Health Reform Subsidy Calculator This calculator from the Kaiser Family Foundation illustrates premiums and government assistance under the health reform law signed by the President.
• Interactive Health Care Calculator for Small Businesses Center for American Progress has developed a small business tax credit calculator, which has an option for embedding it on your website.

Consumer Information

• www.GettingCovered.org From the Young Invincibles, this website helps answer questions about young adults' eligibilty and where they can get coverage.
• The New Health Care Law and You website AARP: This website lists guides by population and updated news on health care reform and its affect on consumers.
• Focus on Health Reform bill summary Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation offers a detailed summary of national health reform across key characteristics.
• Health Reform FAQs for Consumers, Employers, Seniors National Association of Insurance Commissioners: Frequently asked questions by health care consumers.
• What's in Health Care Reform for Small Businesses? Small Business Majority: This short, to-the-point resource is for distribution to small business groups and owners.
• Prescriptions Blog: Making Sense of the Health Care Law The New York Times: This daily blog explains the details and affects of specific provisions in the health reform law.
• PPACA Implementation: Consumer Recommendations for Regulators and Lawmakers Issue briefs from consumer representatives on implementing health care reform. Topics include: Rate Review, Consumer Ombudsman Program, Grandfathering Principles, Consumer Disclosure, Medical Loss Ratio, Restricted Annual/Lifetime Limits, Preventive Coverage, Pre-existing Conditions, Dependent Coverage, Rescissions, Senior Issues-“CLASS.”

Legal

• NCSL State Legislative Tracking Database Use this fantastic database to search state legislation regarding ACA implementation including Medicaid, CHIP, legal challenges, ALEC, compacts and more.
• Status of Legal Callenges to Obama health care overhaul The Washington Post created a chart with the basics about each legal challenge against the Affordable Care Act. It also tracks the status of each case as it progresses through the legal system.
• Tracking the Florida Health Care Lawsuit Political Correction outlines the key players, main arguments and timeline for the Florida lawsuit.
• The ACA Litigation Blog A place to find news updates, legal analysis, and all official documents related to the states' constitutional challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including all amicus briefs filed.
• National Health Law Program (NHeLP) NHeLP provides a list of all documents related to the legal challenges underway as well as a list of helpful resources. They keep a detailed timeline for each legal challenge.
• National Conference of State Legislatures The NCSL is tracking the legislative efforts, ballot initiatives and legal challenges related to health reform in all 50 states.
• Health Reform and the Constitutional Challenges Health Reform GPS provides background on the legal challenges, the portions of the ACA under scrutiny in relation to the constitution and the important questions the courts will have to answer.
• Legal Solutions in Health Reform The Legal Solutions project, a Georgetown O'Neill Institute project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has identified practical, workable solutions to legal issues that could pose obstacles to federal health reform.
• The Scan -- Legal Issues A roundup of studies and developments related to health reform from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
• Unraveling Health Care Reform Would Leave Millions with Less Affordable Care The Center for American Progress highlights the lives at risk if the ACA is repealed or overturned.
• "Not in my name. Not on my dime." Florida CHAIN campaign Florida CHAIN letter asking Florida citizens to join them in urging Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum to end his lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act.
• State Lawmakers Defend Health Care Law Against Right Wing Attorneys General The Progressive States Network has joined with a group of more than 75 bipartisan lawmakers to file an amicus brief in support of the law.
• Can States Succeed in Challenging Health Reform? A paper by the Urban Institute that explores the viability of states’ legal arguments against Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Long-term Care

• Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) provisions in health care reform The Congressional Research Service report discusses the cost and financing for long-term care services as well as the current market for private long-term care insurance
• Long-Term Services: Provisions in the New Health Reform Law Families USA discusses the new provisions for access to affordable long-term care, including provisions to expand access to home- and community-based care (HCBS).
• Health Care Reform and the CLASS Act This summary by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation lists the benefits of the Community Living Assistance Services and Support program (CLASS Act).

Medicaid

• NCSL State Legislative Tracking Database Use this fantastic database to search state legislation regarding ACA implementation including Medicaid, CHIP, legal challenges, ALEC, compacts and more.
• Medicaid Coverage and Spending in Health Reform: National State-by-State Results for Adults at or Below 133% FPL A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation detailing the expected costs of Medicaid expansion in each state and the increase in new enrollees the expansion will create.
• Holding the Line on Medicaid and CHIP: Key Questions and Answers About Health Care Reform's Maintenance-of-Effort Requirements This Georgetown University Center for Children and Families paper answers questions about how Medicaid programs will be protected over the next few years.
• Long-Term Services: Provisions in the New Health Reform Law Families USA discusses the new provisions for access to affordable long-term care, including provisions to expand access to home- and community-based care (HCBS).
• Health Care Reform and the CLASS Act This summary by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation lists the benefits of the Community Living Assistance Services and Support program (CLASS Act).
• Health Reform Is a Good Deal for States report Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: This paper refutes the claims that the new law’s Medicaid expansion will place an unaffordable financial burden on states. In fact, the federal government will pick up nearly all the cost.
• Summary of Medicaid, CHIP and Low-Income Provisions in Health Care Reform Georgetown University Center for Children and Families

Overview

• NCSL State Legislative Tracking Database Use this fantastic database to search state legislation regarding ACA implementation including Medicaid, CHIP, legal challenges, ALEC, compacts and more.
• What Is the Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the States? This paper from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explains that the main components of PPACA affecting state governments will not be implemented until 2014, when Medicaid coverage will substantially expand in most states.
• The New Health Care Law and You website AARP: This website lists guides by population and updated news on health care reform and its affect on consumers.
• Focus on Health Reform bill summary Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation offers a detailed summary of national health reform across key characteristics.
• Timeline for Health Care Reform Implementation: Health Insurance Provisions The Commonwealth Fund's timeline outlines when the various health insurance provisions will go into effect. It is an interactive tool that allows you to click on the dates and see the provisions that will be implemented during a given year.
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website The Department of Health & Human Services, which encompasses the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will be responsible for implementing many of the provisions in the new law. It will post information about the new regulations as it becomes available.
• Health Reform Central: Publications Families USA: This website lists all of Families USA's publications pertaining to the new health care reform law.
• HealthReform.Gov U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: This website is aimed at providing information about national health care reform to average consumers.
• Health Reform Is a Good Deal for States report Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: This paper refutes the claims that the new law’s Medicaid expansion will place an unaffordable financial burden on states. In fact, the federal government will pick up nearly all the cost.
• Summary of Medicaid, CHIP and Low-Income Provisions in Health Care Reform Georgetown University Center for Children and Families
• Daily Health Policy Report news outlet Kaiser Health News provides daily summaries of both national and state health news coverage.
• Herndon Alliance health care news outlet Herndon Alliance: On this website, you can sign up for a daily e-mail with news clips covering the politics of health care reform and its implementation.
• PPACA Implementation: Consumer Recommendations for Regulators and Lawmakers Issue briefs from consumer representatives on implementing health care reform. Topics include: Rate Review, Consumer Ombudsman Program, Grandfathering Principles, Consumer Disclosure, Medical Loss Ratio, Restricted Annual/Lifetime Limits, Preventive Coverage, Pre-existing Conditions, Dependent Coverage, Rescissions, Senior Issues-“CLASS.”

Private Insurance & Exchanges

• 'Unreasonable' Insurance Rate Increases From Health Affairs, a good primer on rate review and summary of criticisms of the ACA’s approach to reform.
• Massachusetts and Utah Health Insurance Exchanges: Lessons Learned This paper from the Georgetown Health Policy Institute examines three primary dimensions of each exchange and concludes that rather than “either-or” options, elements from both may best serve other states.
• NCSL State Legislative Tracking Database Use this fantastic database to search state legislation regarding ACA implementation including Medicaid, CHIP, legal challenges, ALEC, compacts and more.
• Designing an Exchange: A Toolkit for State Policymakers The National Association of Social Insurance worked with focus groups of policymakers and experts to develop this toolkit to help states develop Exchange legislation.

Seniors

• Long-Term Services: Provisions in the New Health Reform Law Families USA discusses the new provisions for access to affordable long-term care, including provisions to expand access to home- and community-based care (HCBS).
• The New Health Care Law and You website AARP: This website lists guides by population and updated news on health care reform and its affect on consumers.
• Health Reform FAQs for Consumers, Employers, Seniors National Association of Insurance Commissioners: Frequently asked questions by health care consumers.

Small Business

• Health Reform FAQs for Small Business Owners Small Business Majority: This website gives small business owners answers to their most burning health reform questions.
• Health Reform FAQs for Consumers, Employers, Seniors National Association of Insurance Commissioners: Frequently asked questions by health care consumers.
• Interactive Health Care Calculator for Small Businesses Center for American Progress has developed a small business tax credit calculator, which has an option for embedding it on your website.
• Health Care Reform Fact Sheets for Small Businesses by State Small Business Majority: These two-page state reports summarize facts on small businesses for each state.
• Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit Small Business Majority: This interactive tax credit calculator shows the immediate 2010-2013 tax credits, as well as full 2014 tax credits.
• What's in Health Care Reform for Small Businesses? Small Business Majority: This short, to-the-point resource is for distribution to small business groups and owners.

State Practices

• Governance Issues for Health Insurance Exchanges The first in a series of briefs from the National Association for Social Insurance on different Exchange issues.
• What Is the Evidence on Health Reform in Massachusetts and How Might the Lessons from Massachusetts Apply to National Health Reform? The report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines Massachusetts' health reform efforts and how lessons learned in Massachusetts can apply to national reform.
• What Is the Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the States? This paper from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation explains that the main components of PPACA affecting state governments will not be implemented until 2014, when Medicaid coverage will substantially expand in most states.
• Right Wing Obstruction of Health Care in the States? Progressive States Network: This website tracks the legislative challenges to reform and the states moving forward on implementation.
• Implementation Station website Utah Health Policy Project: This website is a one-stop shop to help Utahns make sense of national health care reform, get the facts, and learn how it will affect them and their families.

Youth

• KidsWell Campaign KidsWell is a state and national campaign focused on successful health care reform implementation on behalf of children. The KidsWell campaign is a multi-prong strategy of research and policy development; community organizing and civic engagement; communications and advocacy on behalf of children’s health coverage.
• Get Covered Toolkit Young Invincibles created a toolkit to help recent graduates and young adults under 26 figure out their health care options.
• The Affordable Care Act and Children with Special Health Care Needs This paper developed by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) for the Catalyst Center at Boston University reviews and analyzes key provisions of the ACA relevant for Children with special health care needs and provides suggestions for state policymakers.
• Early Wins for Children and Families in Health Care Reform Georgetown University Center for Children and Families educational report.