Kaiser Health News聽examined the rules.聽“Elective abortions will be prohibited and people with pre-existing conditions will be able to get comprehensive benefits without paying any more than healthy people, under new federal regulations for high-risk health insurance pools.” These state-based pools, which are among the聽new law’s highest-profile features聽taking effect this year, “allocate $5 billion to create plans to cover people who have been uninsured for at least six months and have a pre-existing health condition” (Galewitz, 7/30).

: “Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, writing on the Obama administration’s official website, said that an interim final rule, released today, breaks no new ground when it comes to long-standing policies on abortion.聽‘The program’s restriction on abortion coverage is not a precedent for other programs or policies given the unique, temporary nature of the program and the population it serves,’ DeParle said”聽(DoBias, 7/29).

Before the regulations were released, 聽reported that聽a group of Republican senators was threatening “to force changes to the new national health care law unless the Obama administration does more to ensure that federal dollars won’t be used to pay for elective abortions.”聽The issue had “flared as several states began to write regulations for the high-risk insurance pools”聽(Lengell, 7/28).

聽offered more聽analysis,聽noting that abortion-rights groups were “caught completely off-guard”聽when some Republicans and anti-abortion advocates聽successfully mobilized to pressure聽the Obama administration to keep states from allowing abortion coverage in the insurance pools” (Kliff, 7/30).

(For more detailed news summaries related to these high-risk insurance pools, read KHN’s Morning Edition for 闯耻濒测听30听补苍诲 July 27.)

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services聽issued a clarification this week to address聽health insurers’ concerns about聽the new law and children’s coverage. As a result,聽the聽insurers appear to be stepping away from聽decisions “to pull out of the child-only coverage market,” according to聽. “HHS made it clear that plans are free to set up specific enrollment periods for their insurance plans if allowed under state laws. … Health plans had raised concerns that without the enrollment periods, parents could wait until their children get sick before seeking coverage, making it impossible for insurers to stay profitable” (Pecquet, 7/29).聽聽noted that insurers “were concerned the new health care law would allow parents to sign their kids up in emergency rooms while the child is in the middle of a health crisis. The administration now says insurers can limit the sign-up to an ‘open enrollment’ period, for example, December 1 to December 31 for plans that start January 1” (7/28).

(For more detailed news coverage, read KHN’s Morning Edition for July 29.)听听

In other news, two polls聽this week highlighed confusion among a significant number of seniors聽on how聽the overhaul聽affects them, but one聽also offered evidence that opposition to聽the health law is decreasing. 聽

聽on Thursday reported on聽the Kaiser Family Foundation’s July , noting that “opposition to the landmark health care overhaul declined over the past month, to 35 percent from 41 percent. …聽Fifty percent of the public held a favorable view of the law, up slightly from 48 percent a month ago, while 14 percent expressed no opinion about the measure.” The Post also noted this聽“approval level was the highest for the legislation since it was enacted in March, after a divisive year-long debate” (Hilzenrath, 7/29). According to , “the positive numbers play heavily into this fall’s impending midterm elections, in which Republicans and Democrats will jockey over the reforms in the healthcare bill” (O’Brien, 7/29).

,聽concluded聽the poll “shows that senior citizens remain more negative than younger adults toward the health care overhaul passed earlier this year and are more apt to say that the bill will have a negative effect on Medicare and those in their age group” (Agiesta, 7/29). Kaiser Health News聽notes that聽seniors, who are a key target of both political parties this election season,聽“are unaware of many of the Medicare provisions in the overhaul and have been left with erroneous perceptions by the bitter legislative debate” (Verdon, 7/29). (KHN is a program of the foundation).

The other poll, this one conducted by the National Council on Aging and released Monday, also advanced the idea that, as reported by , the “majority of the nation’s seniors have little understanding of what the Democrats’ newly enacted healthcare law actually does.” This survey found that only “14 percent of respondents …聽knew that the new reforms don’t include cuts to doctors treating Medicare patients” (Lillis, 7/26). 聽offered strong words:聽“a new poll that shows just how little Grandma and Grandpa know about it must be giving the new law’s supporters a serious case of heartburn. That’s because seniors are not just a key voting bloc in the upcoming mid-term elections, but a group that’s been showered with some sweet upfront benefits – like $250 checks as a downpayment to close the notorious Medicare drug benefit ‘doughnut hole'” (Rovner, 7/26).聽

(For detailed news coverage related to these polls, read KHN’s Morning Edition on July 27 and July 29.

And, with an eye on the聽fall midterm elections,聽Democrats and Republicans are offering different views on how health reform votes will聽play out in the voting booth.聽聽reports that聽Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is saying that health reform will end up helping Democrats聽this November. “Reid …聽said public opinion is shifting in favor of the new healthcare law … and predicted more and more voters would reject Republicans’ calls for repealing the legislation.” But聽Republicans聽“note that polls have been much more mixed than Reid had argued” (O’Brien, 7/26).聽 聽reported on the GOP’s plan for聽attack:聽“criticizing four aspects of the new law and introducing聽legislation to partially repeal it. With just more than three months until Election Day, Republicans remain confident that their unanimous opposition to the law will help them pick up seats in the midterm elections”聽(Drucker, 7/29).

According to ,聽“health insurers are also planning to play big in November. Both America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and its Coalition for Medicare Choices are expected to play a major role in the messaging, along with individual companies. But neither group, according to sources, plans to directly attack Democrats, which would risk infuriating the White House as it writes reform regulations as well as the Blue Dog Democrats who opposed the legislation.” Likely ads include those targeted to seniors in the Medicare Advantage program聽“explaining it was health reform 聳 not insurers 聳 that is responsible for their higher bills and slashed benefits, one industry official said” (Cummings and Frates, 7/28).

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