Timeline of health care reform

IMMEDIATE FIXES: 2010 – as of April 1st still waiting on these changes to be implemented, no exact time yet

- SMALL BUSINESSES: Tax credits start flowing to businesses with fewer than 50 employees, covering 35% of premiums, to help them afford coverage. By 2014, that will rise to 50%.

- SENIORS: They get a $250 rebate to help fill the "doughnut hole" in Medicare drug coverage.

- YOUNG ADULTS: Health insurers are required to let young people stay on their parents' policy up to their 27th birthday.

- PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS: Insurers will be barred from denying coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions. Adults will have to wait until 2014 for the same protection. But high-risk pools will offer an option for affordable coverage until then.

- NO LIMITS ON COVERAGE: Insurers can't place lifetime caps on benefits any longer.

- PREVENTIVE CARE: New private plans will have to cover checkups and other preventive services with no co-pays. By 2018, all plans must comply.


2011

- HEALTH CARE COMPANIES KICK IN: Drugmakers pony up new fees, starting at $2.7 billion. Insurance and medical-device providers follow in 2013.
2013

- TAXES: Medicare payroll taxes increase - from a rate of 1.45% to 2.35% - for singles earning more than $200,000 a year and families above $250,000.


2014

This is when all Americans will feel the bill's impact - in their wallets, if not elsewhere.

- INDIVIDUAL MANDATE: Almost everyone will be required to get insurance or face a fine - $95 in 2014, $325 in 2015 and $695 in 2016 (with a maximum of $2,250 for a family). There is an exemption for low-income people.

- EMPLOYER MANDATE: Businesses with 50 or more employees must offer insurance or pay a $2,000-per-worker penalty.

- HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES: These new state-based marketplaces should be open for business, giving individuals and small businesses a place to shop for affordable insurance .

- SUBSIDIES: To help pay for insurance, the feds will offer subsidies to families making as much as $88,000 a year. Out-of-pocket spending will be tied to a person's income and kept as low as $1,000.


2018

- TAX ON HIGH-COST HEALTH PLANS: A 40% excise tax will be slapped on high-cost "Cadillac" plans starting in 2018.


2020

- Benefits that began to close Medicare's "doughnut hole" for prescription drugs in 2010 will finally complete the job in 2020.