If you're looking for a readable summary of the new federal health care reform law, Margaret Levi has written it.

Levi, a lawyer with the Lexington firm of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, is the author of a new publication titled The Impact of Health Care Reform on Kentucky Employers. The 68-page booklet, published by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, was released Sept. 6.

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010, and it has been a political lightning rod before and after its passage. Levi's booklet includes short, succinct chapters on the law's history and its highlights.

"There's a lot of criticism of it from people who haven't read it, and I think you have to know it before you can criticize it," said Levi, a Danville native and resident, said of the law.

"I'm not taking a political position one way or another. I am neutral and I tried very hard to remain neutral."

The booklet was the idea of the Kentucky Chamber, the statewide business association that offers booklets about issues facing employers. The Chamber approached Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs about writing the booklet because the law firm has the largest health care practice in the state. Levi is a member of the firm's "health care service team," and her clients include hospitals, physicians and other health care providers.

Before joining the law firm, Levi, a Centre College graduate, was the in-house counsel for Ephraim McDowell Health Inc. in Danville.

Levi's first task in preparing the booklet was to read all 2,555 pages of the Affordable Care Act.

"I started in February," she said. "It took a while. I couldn't tell you how long it took me.

"The hard part in reading it is, it will have a section that says, 'This amends 43 USC (United States Code) by inserting this.' So you not only have to read the Affordable Care Act, but you have to go out and pull up what it's changing so you can see what the true effect of it is."

Read more here:

Lexington attorney writes booklet for state employers on health reform law