ACA still missing key regulatory details

ModernHeathcare.com
May 30, 2013

Some key regulatory details remain unanswered in the final months before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's major provisions launch.

Obama administration officials have insisted that they have issued all of the major regulations for the 2010 healthcare overhaul and are now focused on implementing the law's central pillars—state health insurance exchanges and expanded Medicaid coverage—later this year. But health policy experts said they still expect important regulations implementing provisions of the law, plus a large amount of so-called subregulatory guidance.

Sam Batkins, director of regulatory policy at the conservative American Action Forum, counts 32 proposed rules that remain to be finalized, including final IRS rules on Medicare taxes and rules requiring providers to report and return Medicare overpayments within 60 days.

Other highly anticipated regulations still to come this year deal with various components of the health insurance marketplaces, experts say. Those new exchanges are expected to begin enrolling millions of private insurance subscribers in each state Oct. 1 and start providing coverage in January.

To find out what the four rules addressing various aspects of exchanges will be, read the full article here.