The following is part of the Center for American Progress Health Care coverage; CAP "provide[s] long-term leadership and support to the progressive movement":

In the months to come, the tempo of health reform implementation will speed up and the tangible benefits will become even more apparent. Specifically, in 2011:

• Medicare beneficiaries with very high drug costs will save more than $1,500 as the dreaded “doughnut hole” in their prescription drug benefit closes.
• States will have greater financial incentives to provide long-term services and supports at home, where elders and people with disabilities prefer to live, rather than in nursing homes.
• Medicare and Medicaid will begin using their payment systems to induce quality improvements in the delivery system, for example by reducing hospital payments when a patient suffers from a hospital-acquired infection, and by rewarding doctors and other providers who do a good job of managing patients with complex conditions.

These reforms and others to be implemented over time will secure important new health care benefits for millions of Americans, insured and uninsured alike, setting the stage for the major reforms to come in 2014 and beyond.

In the weeks to come, though, we will hear a lot of rhetoric from the opponents of health reform. They will call for repealing the new law and either reverting to the old status quo or starting health reform over from scratch. Reverting to the unaffordable health system in place before this landmark reform would leave millions of Americans uninsured, while ignoring the unsustainable growth of health care costs.

But repealing only parts of the Affordable Care Act would carry a heavy price, too. One recent analysis notes that repealing the requirement that all individuals carry health insurance and the subsidies that help individuals and families afford this coverage would cause health insurance to cost twice as much in 2019 as it will under the Affordable Care Act.

Related articles:

Repeal Would Take Away New Rights and Benefits (CAP)

For Many, Health Care Relief Begins Today (The New York Times)

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