| Now that health insurance reform has passed and is the law of the land implementing it is the next major step. Much of the onus for implementation will be on the states to create exchanges, expand Medicaid and provide the governmental infrastructure to provide insurance coverage, digitize medical records and so forth. Gov. Ed Rendell will issue and Executive Order within a week to begin this process in Pennsylvania. It will create a group headed by Donna Cooper to begin advance planning by the state. Ann Torregrossa, the head of the Governor's Office on Health Care Reform made the announcement yesterday at a conference about implementing the new law in Pennsylvania.
This year's state elections will be critical in determining how Pennsylvania moves forward, or not, under the law. GOP Gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett is suing to overturn the law, something ridiculed by constitutional scholars, and couldn't be expected to implement much of the legislation as Governor. Therefore it is urgent a successor to Ed Rendell be elected who will fully and completely enact reform so Pennsylvanians can fully benefit from its provisions.
The state legislature will then begin designing and building the four exchanges which begin operations in 2014. Whoever controls the State House and Senate will enact the laws creating the exchanges so who is elected to these positions in November is also critical. Meanwhile the enactment and implementation of the law waits for no election. Ray Prushnok, Deputy Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Aging addressed just a few of these concerns in an interview yesterday:
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