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Effective January 1st, Americans will see the Park D “donut hole” shrink, doctors will get a 10% Medicare bonus for primary care services, premiums for income-related part B will be frozen at 2010 levels through 2019, and states can receive three-year grants to develop comprehensive health lifestyle programs for Medicaid enrollees.

Just as a Republican controlled House returns to Washington with a bulls eye target on the health care reform bill, some of the biggest changes prompted by that hard-fought battle to overhaul the health care system are in effect as of January 1st. Americans will see the Park D “donut hole” shrink, doctors will get a 10% Medicare bonus for primary care services, premiums for income-related part B will be frozen at 2010 levels through 2019, and states can receive three-year grants to develop comprehensive health lifestyle programs for Medicaid enrollees, to name just a few. How will your health plan be affected and for how long?

Guests:

Dr. Kavita K. Patel, adjunct assistant clinical professor at UCLA’s Geffen School of Medicine

John R. Graham, Director of Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based free-market think tank