Preparing for these changes has been a significant project for the IRS. At least eight of the modifications have forced the IRS to develop new processes to administer the law. In all, the overhaul contains $438 billion in new taxes and fess, the audit found.

Modifications to the tax code include penalties for those who do not acquire health care coverage and incentives for those who do. The IRS began preparing for the changes in June 2010, creating a new office to concentration on the health care law’s implementation and hiring additional staff to deal with the many projects required to administer the new tax provisions, Healthwatch reported.

“The new Affordable Care Act provisions represent the largest set of tax law changes in 20 years,” Russell George, the tax administration inspector general, said in a statement. “I commend the IRS for its successful creation of a plan to implement them.”

HHS asked this independent agency in Washington to recommend what medical benefits should be offered through health insurance exchanges to the millions of Americans who will qualify starting in 2014. A spokesperson for IOM has said that the group is not developing specific benefits packages to be offered through exchanges, but is outlining methods HHS can use to determine the essential health benefits package, Reuters reported.

HHS is expected to make a final decision by the end of the year, based on the IOM report, on what benefits will be offered through insurance exchanges.

The Justice Department did not ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear the case, in which a three-judge panel from the 11th Circuit ruled that the law’s requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance was unconstitutional. The administration’s choice not to ask the full Court of Appeals to review the case indicates that it will likely ask the Supreme Court to issue a ruling ; otherwise, the Court of Appeals’ decision will stand.

If the Supreme Court accepts the case, it will likely hear arguments during the 2011-12 term and issue a ruling by June 2012, prior to the 2012 presidential election. According to Politico, the Supreme Court has several reasons to take the case. For one, the Court typically accepts requests from the government to take a case. Furthermore, conflicting rulings on the law by various Courts of Appeals suggest a need for clarification and finality from the nation’s highest court.

By accepting the case, however, the Supreme Court risks entangling itself in a highly political and controversial issue and potentially galvanizing one political party on the eve of the 2012 presidential election, Politico reported.

The article cites expansions of Medicaid, the employer insurance mandate, health insurance exchanges with subsidies for low-income families and other reforms as likely to result in coverage for at least 3.7 million people with severe mental illnesses who are not currently insured. Many more people with mild mental illnesses are also likely to obtain coverage for the first time under ACA. State-based insurance exchanges will require participating plans to cover behavioral health services.

The authors also expect that ipatient-centered medical homes and accountable care organizations will improve integration and quality of care for those with mental illness. The current lack of integration between providers of various medical services has meant that people with mental illnesses tend to die earlier than the general population from treateable diseases and mental disorders are often untreated by primary care physicians. ACA will require integrated care and sharing of medical records, which will mean sharing information about the mental and physical health of those with behavioral disorders.

ACA will also improve Medicaid options for those with mental illnesses. More services will be covered under Medicaid and grants will be offered to help adults with medical illnesses and medical conditions integrate their treatments and medical services.

This new round of grants, funded by the health care reform law, are meant to create thousands of new jobs at health centers across the country, which employed more than 130,000 people last year, according to HHS. The grants were announced the day after President Obama addressed Congress on the topic of job creation.

The majority of the grant money will be allocated to existing health centers to use for long-term expansion projects that will allow them to add new facilities and hire more staff. One hundred million dollars will be dedicated to short-term projects, The Hill reported.

The White House agreed to cut approximately $600 million from community health centers earlier this year.