In This Issue:

- Smoother Open Enrollment Sets Stage for Shift in Congressional Focus

- Implementation of the Affordable Care Act

- Other Federal Regulatory Initiatives

- Congressional Initiatives

- Other Health Care News

- Upcoming Congressional Hearings

- Excerpt from Smoother Open Enrollment Sets Stage for Shift in Congressional Focus...

On November 15th, the Health Insurance Marketplace began its second Open Enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) law. Those who already have a health plan are also able to update applications, compare plans, and choose an option that meets the consumers’ health and financial needs. The deadline for first-time coverage is February 15, 2015 while the deadline for those making changes is December 15, 2014.

While on the first day of enrollment last year the total number of people able to sign up for health coverage was six, by the end of the day Saturday 100,000 people had successfully submitted applications. Speaking on the Sunday morning shows, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell announced that in addition to the 100,000 applications, 500,000 consumers were able to log on to HealthCare.gov, and a total of 1 million (now 1.2 million) people had gone “window shopping” for plans. Though not difficult to surpass its performance in 2013, HealthCare.gov did have some minor problems, including some reports of error messages and password issues.