The historic health care reform legislation signed into law by President Obama may be a welcome landmark or a colossal disappointment, depending on your views. But I think nobody can deny that the mammoth bill’s sheer size and complexity — not to mention political drama — are enough to boggle the mind.
Much time and effort is required to figure out what this new arrangement will mean for each of us and our families. Will it affect your current health plan? Should you prepare for additional costs? How are “pre-existing conditions” defined?
The questions will keep coming, but you can narrow your search for answers by checking out these sources:
- Kaiser Health News – Health Reform: This daily roundup of major news coverage gives you a quick survey of current reporting, with links that you can follow for more in-depth coverage of topics that interest you. An additional Kaiser feed, the Daily Health Policy Report (http://feeds.kaiserhealthnews.org/dailyreport) also offers useful summaries.
- New York Times – Health Care Reform: You’re likely to find daily articles on the topic, and many of these articles link to more informative resources on the NYT site.
- Health Care Reform Center: From the publishers of the New England Journal of Medicine, this feed takes a more academic look at the large issues involved in the new legislation and what they mean for the health care industry.
- FactCheck.org: This feed contains updates that focus on consumer advocacy and try to reduce political confusion; several of the recent posts relate to health-care reform. The source: Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Following the intricacies of this important issue could give anyone a headache. But you’d be smart to brush up on some of the feed details above before calling the doctor.
Apps mentioned in this post:
- Add Kaiser Health News – Health Reform
- Add New York Times – Health Care Reform
- Add Health Care Reform Center
- Add FactCheck.org
Tom
- My Yahoo! Editorial