King heads the Nevada Division of Insurance's Life & Health Section, and while his office provides a variety of services to consumers and insurance companies, it has spent much of the past two years focusing on the 2010 law. So his staff can likely tell you whether or not you qualify for a health insurance program that covers people with pre-existing medical conditions, or simply give you an overview of the law's sweeping changes.
Right now, King is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to determine the fate of the 2,700-page bill, which critics - and now supporters - have dubbed "Obamacare."
The court's nine justices are expected to issue a ruling any day now, and once he's had a chance to review the decision, King will have a better idea of where the Affordable Care Act is headed.
The Supreme Court is focused mainly on three areas of the bill.
One provision expands the federal Medicaid program, while another requires most consumers to buy health insurance by 2014; those who don't would be forced to pay tax penalties. A third provision imposes tax penalties on certain employers who fail to buy health insurance for their employees.
Most court watchers predict one of three possible outcomes.
The court could opt to toss out the entire law. Conversely, it could keep the law in place, or overturn some of its key provisions.
However, some parts of the law are expected to remain intact.
One provision that's already taken effect allows young people to remain on their parents' policies until they turn 26, and it's proven to be popular with many consumers and insurers alike.
In fact, three large insurance companies - Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group (sic) have vowed to keep that change in place, regardless of the court's decision.
But the fate of the so-called "individual mandate," which requires almost everybody to buy health insurance by 2014, is far less certain.
According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll, just 16 percent of respondents expressed support for that requirement.
Count Justice Antonin Scalia among those skeptics: during oral arguments regarding the law's constitutionality, he questioned whether Congress could also force Americans to buy broccoli.
Likewise, the Kaiser poll found that a majority of the public rejects the notion that Congress can impose tax penalties on some employers who fail to buy health insurance for their employees. Just 35 percent of respondents said they feel "very favorable" about that provision.
King, meanwhile, sees mixed results from other requirements, including a provision limiting the number of pre-existing health conditions that insurers can exclude from policy forms.
"It's good from the standpoint that an insurance company cannot limit it; it's bad because carriers stopped writing for kids, and that's who it was for," he said.
However, the law also authorized each state to create its own insurance program for people with pre-existing health conditions, or defer to the federal government.
Nevada and 22 other states chose the latter route, and as of June 1, nearly 950 Nevadans with pre-existing conditions were covered under the temporary program.
"The reason this is good is it allows people with very serious health issues to be able to buy health insurance," King said. "There are some limitations on who can qualify, but it's now providing coverage for people that have ... some very serious illnesses: Cancer, heart problems, diabetes ... They're able to now purchase coverage affordably through this program."
King anticipates that the program will take full effect in January 2014, assuming that the Supreme Court doesn't scrap any related provisions.
As for the individual mandate, it's unclear what would happen if the court does away with it altogether, while upholding a provision that requires insurers to accept all applicants at the same price.
One insurance industry group estimates that the cost of health premiums would rise by 40 percent; the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office puts that increase somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 percent.
For more information, you can contact the Nevada Division of Insurance toll-free at: (888) 872-3234.
[[In-content Ad]]