User blog comment:Emptylord/Season 3 - PBE Patch Notes/@comment-130.65.249.191-20121117014510/@comment-5266525-20121117194504

They're nerfing Barrier in conjunction with nerfing Heal's overall health restoration but increasing its healing on allies, so it's effectively replacing it as the defactor summoner spell to counter burst damage.

Heart of Gold was being removed for just exacerbating the problem of snowballing too much. Health is an early-game stat, meaning you can win your lane more easily, but the gold passive already meant you would be getting the cash for later anyway.