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2011

• People with Medicare can get key preventive services for free, and also receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the Medicare "donut hole."
• Certain free preventive services should be provided, such as annual wellness visits and personalized prevention plans, for seniors on Medicare.
• To ensure premium dollars are spent primarily on health care, at least 85 percent of all premium dollars collected by insurance companies for large employer plans are spent on health care services and health care quality improvement.
• The discrepancy between what is (over)payed to Medicare Advantage insurance companies and what is paid to a person on original Medicare is addressed.
• A new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation is established.
• Care improved for seniors after they leave the hospital.
• The new Community First Choice Option allows states to offer home and community based services to disabled people through Medicaid rather than institutional care in nursing homes.

What else happened:

August 1—Draft regulations that mandate that insurance plans cover women's contraceptive expenses as part of the preventive care provisions taking effect after Aug. 1, 2012 are proposed. Religious groups are angered.

October—The administration announced it won't implement the CLASS Act provision of the health law that set up a voluntary long-term care insurance program.

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2012

• Accountable care organizations are introduced.
• Reduces rebates paid to Medicare Advantage plans and provides bonus payments to high–quality plans.
• To help understand and reduce persistent health disparities, the law requires any ongoing or new federal health program to collect and report racial, ethnic, and language data.

What else happened:

Jan. 20— HHS amended the rule on women's contraception coverage. Churches and other religious organizations are still exempted but religiously affiliated organizations must still provide such coverage to employees. HHS grants them an extra year to comply.

Feb. 15—Obama announced changes in the contraception coverage requirement, saying that under the revised policy, religiously affiliated employers will not have to pay for such coverage, but instead insurers offering the plan for those employers will pick up the cost.

March 12—The administration released a health exchange blueprint.

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And beyond

The major provisions of the law, however, including the controversial individual mandate to purchase coverage and requirement that insurers accept all comers, don't take effect until 2014—if the law isn't struck down or repealed.

[Read about the good, the bad and the ugly of health reform.]

[Click here for ongoing coverage of the Supreme Court arguments on health reform and the individual mandate.]