Today, Thursday, September 23, marks the 6 month anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Starting today, several provisions will take effect; Insurers will not be allowed to set a dollar limit on how much coverage an individual is allowed over a lifetime. They will also be prohibited from denying coverage to sick children. In addition, young adults can now stay on their parents' insurance plans until they reach 26 years of age.

However, while these laws do go into effect today, many individuals will not feel the impact because several existing plans have been exempt from the change, or the individual is not eligible to change insurance plans until the new calendar year. Most of the provisions of the larger bill will not take place until 2014. The changes between now and 2014 are seen as the most pressing when trying to obtain health insurance.

Watch the White House's Video "Health reform in Action" to see how Reform has affected individuals across the country

Read the White House press release, outlining facts about the bill

Tomorrow, Friday, September 24 two federal advisory committees for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) will convene. From 11am-2pm the Enrollment Workgroup will meet. This workgroup is charged with creating a set of standards which will facilitate enrollment in Federal and state health and human services programs.

Following this meeting, from 3-5pm the Privacy and Security Tiger Team will meet to discuss how new organizations can fulfill the requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

Find out more information and how to participate in these upcoming meetings.

Join leaders from academia, government agencies, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology and venture industries at the Translational Medicine Alliance 2010 Forum, Oct. 13 and 14 in Washington, D.C. The forum will feature dynamic discussions of some of the most critical challenges and opportunities at the forefront of translational medicine. This forum will focus on several topics, including regulatory science, lessons from the most experienced translational models, how and why rare disease and pediatric medicine are changing the landscape, transparency and more. This effort is cosponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, FasterCures, and the Council for American Medical Innovation.

Read the full agenda and speaker list