• About three million Medicare enrollees who spend between $2,840 and $6,448 on drugs each year receive a 50 percent discount on branded prescriptions.
• Medicare enrollees with annual incomes above $85,000 for individuals and $170,000 for couples receive less money for Medicare Part D prescription-drug coverage.
• Medicare enrollees will have more free access to preventive health care screenings such as colorectal cancer screenings and mammograms.
• The government will raise $2.5 billion in taxes from drug manufacturers.
• Insurers must spend 80 percent of revenue for small-group plans and 85 percent of revenue for large-group plans on medical care. If not, they will customers rebates in 2012.

• People cannot use flexible spending accounts to pay for most over-the-counter items without a prescription.

A couple more measures kick in March 23, including a requirement to include nutritional information for items on menu boards of chain restaurants and food sold from vending machines.

Several other programs kick in later this year as long as Congress authorizes funding for them.