Healthcare Reform and the ACA Resource Center

On March 23, 2010, healthcare reform became law when President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). MGMA provides the following resource to help you better understand provisions included in the legislation and navigate the implementation process.

The law includes many policy areas in which MGMA is active. Please visit other pages on our site for further information about issues such as Medicare payment, compliance, ACOs and administrative simplification.

News

• HHS releases a number of ACA regulations, including:
  • A final rule on market reforms, which implements provisions related to fair health insurance premiums, guaranteed availability, guaranteed renewability, single risk pools, and catastrophic plans. HHS overview.
  • A final rule on multi-state Exchange plans. These private plans will be selected by the Office of Personnel Management and will be offered in multiple states. Fact Sheet.
  • A proposed rule on determining eligibility for individuals to purchase insurance through an Exchange and exemptions from penalties for not maintaining minimum essential coverage. It also outlines proposed alternatives to minimum essential coverage to avoid shared responsibility penalties. 
• MGMA calls for streamlined Medicaid primary care payment parity implementation  
• HHS releases final rule on Essential Health Benefits
  •  FAQs on Essential Health Benefits
• States finalize decisions on setting up Exchanges   

Implementation Resources

Resources on Specific Provisions

• Key points of the Medicare-Medicaid Primary Care Payment Parity Rule  and related CMS FAQs
• Overview of insurance exchanges and state efforts related the establishment of exchanges. More detailed breakdown of the state specific exchange efforts.
• Review the Internal Revenue Service's ACA information on Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and Administration guidance on small business healthcare tax credit  
• ACA regulation regarding coverage to 26 year olds  
• ACA: Preexisting Condition Exclusions, Lifetime and Annual Limits, Rescissions, and Patient Protections  
• ACA: Interim final rules for group health plans and health insurance issuers relating to coverage of preventative services  
• ACA: Interim final and proposed rule for group health plans and health insurance coverage relating to grandfathered health plan . Health and Human Services Fact Sheet on the rule

General Resources

• Memo outling key 2014 ACA changes to Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance markets
• Analysis of Supreme Court's ruling on health reform 
• Find answers to many of your questions at Healthcare.gov, an official site managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
• Department of Labor's Affordable Care Act toolkit
• Implementation briefs from HealthReform GPS
• Kaiser Family Foundation health reform source, which includes an interactive timeline on the implementation of many ACA provisions
• Learn more about what states are doing regarding healthcare reform

Resources on the Health Reform Law

MGMA Implementation Guide includes detailed information regarding specific provisions in the ACA implementation reference guide.  (2010)

A special healthcare reform report from MGMA  (2010)

MGMA Government Affairs department provides FAQs on ACA (2010)

Full healthcare reform legislation consolidated by the House Office of the Legislative Counsel (HOLC): ACA and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act  (2010)

MGMA Position

Based on our healthcare reform principles , the Association’s previous position on the Senate bill , and review of recent comments submitted by MGMA members, the MGMA Government Affairs Committee (GAC) made a recommendation on the final legislation to the MGMA Board of Directors. The Board confirmed the GAC recommendation to not support final healthcare reform legislation because of its failure to adequately reflect the Association’s healthcare reform principles. The Board approved MGMA position on final reform legislation to Congress.

Healthcare Reform Measures and MGMA Advocacy Timeline