Welcome to the eye of the Obamacare storm. This year represents a deceptively calm interlude after the partisan war whoops of repeal and replace, and before 2014, when millions of Americans are supposed to get covered under the health care law. Its a year of nuts and bolts, trying to get many complicated moving parts in place for a policy that large swaths of the country still oppose.

LOOKING BACK

The year began with a reinvigorated and reinaugurated President Barack Obama outlining his agenda, and if he is talking more about immigration than insurance, it doesnt mean his administration isnt forging ahead with implementation of his signature domestic achievement: the Affordable Care Act.

Bruised but intact after last years uncertainty over the Supreme Court and the election, the health law is firmly moving ahead. Its largely out of Congresss hands now although federal agencies are plenty busy finalizing the rules. But many of the biggest decisions affecting the future of Obamacare are being made by the states.

States in the past few months have had to decide whether to join the White House in running health insurance exchanges. Only about half are on board, and they are largely states with Democratic governors. States have more time to figure out whether the Medicaid expansion is right for them but a growing list is saying yes, including some big-name conservative governors like Ohios John Kasich, Floridas Rick Scott and New Jerseys Chris Christie. That is if their legislatures go along.

But the onset of Obamacare isnt the only health story of 2013. After Newtown, Conn., mental health has emerged on the public agenda, invigorating advocates who have long felt ignored.

Obama has proposed shoring up the nations mental health workforce, funding more intervention for at-risk children, and expediting stalled regulations governing mental health laws already on the books.

Finally, with the fiscal cliff in the rearview, the future of Medicare was put on hold when lawmakers stalled on a grand or even not-so-grand bargain.

LOOKING FORWARD

The White House is laser-focused on ensuring the most sweeping elements of the Affordable Care Act get whirring without a hitch on Jan. 1, 2014.

See original here:

Putting health care law into practice