This week marks two years since President Obama signed
the Affordable Care Act.
And California Assemblymember Bill Monning says for some
people the law may have already been live-saving.
MONNING: "Young people, people who had been denied coverage for a prior, a pre-existing medical condition, for those families, the passage of this law has been transformative."
Monning joined health advocates at the Capitol who released a report about the law's effect.
The report compiled by Health Access finds hundreds of
thousands have new benefits, including low income people and adults
under 26.
It suggests millions more now benefit from health cost
savings, preventative coverage, and the elimination of lifetime
spending caps on their plans.
But Anthony Wright of Health Access says much more needs
to be done before all of reforms are implemented in
2014.
WRIGHT: "We have an imperative, not just a moral imperative but an economic one, to try to get people in coverage on day one on January 1, 2014, but that's going to take a lot of work to maximize that benefit and those funds to California."
But from the beginning small business in the state have had reservations about health reform.
John Kabateck directs the California chapter of the
National Federation of Independent Business.
KABATECK: "What we hear about the federal health care bill is a great deal of uncertainty and fear because it is one that is known to include new mandates, new costs, and new reporting requirements."
Kabateck says the NFIB hopes the Affordable Care Act
will be repealed.