"We have insurance because we're trying to have financial protection against exactly those kinds of problems," Davenport said. "It's something that all of us hope we never even have to think about, but having it there is going to be really valuable to the people who are in that really horrible situation."

Kirsten Sloan, vice president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, said, "The most important thing about today is that a number of very important insurance reforms go into effect, which makes it easier for women and families to find and maintain or keep insurance."

But many people aren't happy with the new law, and health reform remains a politically charged issue, and one that is likely to have a ripple effect in the November elections.

Seeking to muster public support for the reform package, President Barack Obama on Wednesday talked up the new law at a backyard gathering in Falls Church, Va.

Highlighting the new provisions, Obama said, "All of this is going to lower premiums. It's going to make health care more affordable. It's going to give you more security," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

But the House of Representatives' Republican Conference released Thursday a pledge to voters outlining key priorities, including "a plan to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care."

The House Republicans' agenda "will focus on getting this economy moving again, getting spending under control, and, yes, it includes rolling back both the failed economic policies and broadly rejected government takeover of health care enacted last March," Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who chairs the House Republican Conference, said Thursday on the CBS Early Show.

Consumers remain roughly divided over the law.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation's most recent monthly health reform tracking poll found 49 percent in favor of the law and 40 percent opposed, foundation Presiden
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