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If you were to look at health care reform in terms of Greek mythology, you might be able to equate the new law with the power of Achilles. But as great a warrior as Achilles was, most health experts across the state are quick to point out that he still had that weak heel.

"They have to get costs under control. If they keep going up by two, three times the inflation rate, none of this will be affordable in 10 years," said New York State Health Foundation President & CEO Dr. James Knickman.

According to the Primary Care Coalition, a group of primary care organizations whose mission it is to expand preventive services across the state, New York spends more than $100 billion of its $160 billion health budget on fighting chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Their members say a major way to save billions would be to swing even more resources their way, and to in effect frontload the system.

"What we're seeing is an enormous growth of chronic illnesses and those chronic illnesses are basically either preventable or primary care manageable. But unless you have the primary care and prevention, then people get ill, land in the emergency room, and end up in the hospital with advanced conditions that never needed to be the case," said Primary Care Development Corporation Executive Director Ronda Kotelchuck.

Multiple measures have already been built into health reform law that go directly toward cost control and expanding the primary care system in New York and nationwide. But experts say it's up to health care systems to take advantage of those incentives to get better results.

They recommend continuing primary care payment reform to make sure more doctors are available to meet the needs of vastly expanding patient loads, expanding recruitment programs for primary care health workers, and creating more settings where patients can get multiple services in one place.

Members of the primary care coalition point to the way some community health centers are already doing business. Those include use of electronic records to improve management of care, along with action plans to improve outcomes with chronic disease --where care isn't only comprehensive, but coordinated.

"Health centers 10 or 15 years ago were involved in chronic disease management programs and implementing innovative ways of patient-centered chronic disease management that account for the fact that health centers now have much better quality results and asthma care and diabetes care than other essential chronic disease management programs," said Community Health Care Association of New York State CEO Elizabeth Swain.

State lawmakers are also currently considering legislation that will create more health care models meant to strengthen primary care.