NASHVILLE, Tenn. - There's more to come in the New Year in the way of new national health care provisions.

As of September of this year, the federal health care reform law has eliminated the lifetime limit on coverage, allowed parents to keep their children on their family insurance plan until the age of 26, and keeps insurance providers from denying coverage or canceling coverage when people get sick.

More pieces of the federal law expected to be in place in 2011 and the years ahead. Tony Garr, deputy director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign says that soon, people will no longer have to list previous health problems or issues on medical insurance forms - with one exception.

"Whether or not you have diabetes, or you have epilepsy, or hemophilia or cancer, guess what? You can't be denied coverage. You can't be rated and charged more. The only exception to that is smoking."

The federal law is expected to be debated by Congress next year, and proposals are already being crafted to repeal all, or parts, of the law.

Garr says he's stunned that people want to repeal the measures already in place, or those yet to be implemented. He says provisions still on the way will provide no-cost or low-cost examinations that he says he believes will improve quality of life and cut medical expenses.

"Long-term, this is going to be cheaper: the fact that people can catch these diseases early on as opposed to later, this is really what it's all about."

Garr has been leading public forums explaining federal reform and says he's received "thank yous" from people who said they no longer feared the changes once they were explained.