On Tuesday, March 31, 2010, the last piece of historic health care reform legislation was signed into law. NASI members participated in a variety of ways – from crafting the legislation to scoring its costs and effects to debating its pros and cons.
In July of 2009, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) released a timely study panel report on Administrative Solutions in Health Reform, produced in conjunction with the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The study panel created a road map of administrative issues key to the successful implementation of the new legislation. These include:
· Ensuring that exchanges achieve the minimum size necessary to function effectively;
· Simplifying Medicaid administration by relying on income tests only, ignoring assets;
· Facilitating compliance with individual and employer mandates;
· Making administration of eligibility for subsidies as simple as possible;
· And much more.
The full report, a series of commissioned papers by noted experts, and a fact-sheet are available for download free of charge.
How well the new law is implemented will determine the degree to which its goals become realities. With this study panel report, the National Academy of Social Insurance offers an important contribution to discussion of the new law’s implementation. This contribution will certainly be the first of many as NASI and its members engage with this vital issue.