AHL’s TOP STORY: Obama Downplays Future ACA Implementation Issues, Acknowledges ‘Glitches’ Ahead

President Obama on Tuesday held a news conference, during which he discussed the administration’s progress on implementing the Affordable Care Act, the Los Angeles Times reports.

STATE OF THE HEALTH CARE: What Health Care Topics President Obama Might Broach in Tonight’s State of the Union Address

President Obama tonight continues the long tradition of delivering a State of the Union address. While there are indications that Obama might spend little time discussing the Affordable Care Act, he could address a few health policy-related topics. Below we outline three such issues the president could tackle during his primetime address.

THE PRESIDENT: A Look Back at Obama’s First Four Years in Health Policy

President Obama was inaugurated last month, launching his second term and providing an opportunity to reflect upon the health policy legislation and decisions in his first term. While obvious focal point is the landmark but controversial Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed in March 2010 and his administration has spent much time implementing, Obama and his administration’s other health policy issues might have received less notice. However, from tackling fraud in government health programs to addressing obesity, the White House’s health policy efforts ran the gamut. Below are summaries of some of those other health policy efforts.

Five Key Reads To Prepare You for Tuesday’s Presidential Election

Much is at stake in regard to health care in the U.S. in Tuesday’s presidential election. President Obama and his GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, have vastly different visions for how health care should be handled. To help you understand what is riding on the election in terms of health policy, American Health Line compiled a list of five key reads:

BLOGGER VS. BLOGGER: Obama Stirs the Pot With Supreme Court Comments

President Obama on Tuesday pulled back on previous comments on last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments over the constitutionality of the federal health reform law, after those remarks were rebuked by several Republican lawmakers. Conservative and liberal bloggers also were critical of the President’s statements.

Why ‘HillaryCare’ Failed and ‘ObamaCare’ Succeeded

Since March 30, 1992, when American Health Line first launched, there have been two major efforts to reform the country’s health care system.

In the early 1990s, President Clinton called on first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to lead an effort to enact major health reform legislation. That effort famously (or infamously) failed.

It wasn’t again until 2009, when President Obama took office, that lawmakers attempted such a large-scale effort to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Obama and congressional Democrats overcame decades of failed efforts to enact the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, now known as the federal health reform law, the ACA or “ObamaCare.”

We looked back at past coverage in American Health Line to examine the difference between the two efforts and why one was successful, and the other was not. Here are a number of key moments from each reform effort that helped determine their failure or success.