Module 4 Assignment 1: The Affordable Care Act

President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010. This law puts in place widespread health insurance reforms that expanded out over the last 4 years and continues to change the lives of many Americans today. Health care reform has been an extensively debated topic for multiple years, and the ACA is the first effective attempt at passing a law aiming to make health care not only affordable, but accessible for all individuals. The law impacts many Americans including, children, employers, government programs which includes federal and state, health plans and private insurers, health care coverage, health care cost, and the quality of care received. The main goal of the law is to expand health care coverage, broaden Medicaid eligibility, minimize and regulate health care cost, and improve the health care delivery system. In order to improve the health care delivery there have been new consumer protections established and an increase access to affordable care.

Before creating Obamacare, million people in the United States could not afford the expenditure to buy health insurances and drug costs. Therefore, they have no chance to prevent diseases or receive treatments. They could be discriminated against coverage and treatment because they had pre-existing conditions. As shown in statistics in the article “Health Coverage before the ACA, and Why All Americans are Better Off Now” of David Simas, the insurance companies could deny to coverage nearly one in two people because they have pre-condition such as heart diseases, cancer, or diabetes.

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and to protect consumers from abusive insurance company practices (Whitehouse.gov). President Obama states that the Affordable Care Act is the most important health care legislation enacted in the United

According to Chaffee, Mason, and Leavitt (2007) this act provides coverage for up to 32 million of the 45 million uninsured by 2010. It prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre- existing conditions and also inhibits these companies from removing coverage from people who develop serious illness (Open Congress, 2009). Moreover, it blocks insurance groups from applying annual and lifetime caps on coverage (Chaffee, Mason & Leavitt, 2007).

What is the Affordable Care Act and is it going to succeed or fail? The affordable care act is a law passed by the Obama Administration in 2010. This piece of legislation was passed to make health insurance affordable and accessible for all Americans. A lot of people refer to the affordable care act as Obamacare due to the fact that it was passed when President Obama was in office. The affordable care act was a major milestone for the United States in health care reform. It was the first time the United States passed a law that created a form of universal healthcare.

President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law on March 23rd of 2010, with hopes of helping make sure every American have access to quality and affordable health care. Having health care coverage is really a big deal, whether you are a parent with private insurance, a senior with Medicare or a single woman with a pre-existing condition, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) can save you money and help you get better coverage.

The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, was passed in March 2010. This over-1000-page Act implements a number of reforms designed to increase the availability of health care for individuals. The Act created a Health Insurance Marketplace, a universal way to sign up for subsidized health care plans (which are cheaper), though you can only get certain plans from certain places, including an expanded Medicaid. It also creates an incentive to purchase health insurance-if you don 't, you 'll have to pay a fine, which is interpreted by many as a tax. Additionally, the Affordable Care Act requires sizable firms to provide a certain level of health care to all of their employees, with certain specifications. Obamacare also attempts to make health care cheaper for many, by trying to even out the cost for everyone.

In March 2010, one of the most controversial bills in modern history was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expanded the 1965 bill passed under President Johnson that created Medicare and Medicaid (“LBJ Presidential Library,” 2015). While the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as it has been dubbed by the media, has many components, the focus here is the expansion of Medicaid. Obamacare sought to expand Medicaid to cover those who earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, but not enough to afford employer-provided health care. These people are said to be in the “coverage gap” (“Obamacare Medicaid expansion,” 2015). While only 32 states have adopted Obamacare, we should advance a policy encouraging the remaining states to expand existing coverage by extending the period of federal government cost-sharing an additional five years. Doing so would give states previously refusing the cost sharing a second chance to opt-in. This expansion would save money for the states from some of the rising cost of healthcare, and fulfill our moral duty to care for uninsured Americans.

In 2008, upon the commencement of The Affordable Care Act, the idea was to help millions of uninsured Americans gain health insurance, especially those who are at or just above the federal poverty level. Although the idea behind a universal health care system was great at the time, many citizens are struggling to find a doctor that will accept the subsidized health care insurance, such as Medicaid, and Passport. Furthermore, doctors choose to opt-out of accepting government based health insurance because the reimbursement rates are too low. “It is estimated that private plans pay $1.00 for a service, Medicare pays $0.80, and the ACA exchange plans are paying about $0.60.” (Harvey 1) That shows that the government based subsidized programs are significantly lower than the average market value. A

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) extended healthcare coverage to millions of formerly uninsured individuals by expanding eligibility of Medicaid and the formation of Health Insurance Marketplaces. The ACA also included reforms to assist individuals sustain coverage and have the availability of affordable and accessible private healthcare insurance. Analysis from 2014 and early 2015 and have shown significant increases in public and private healthcare insurance coverage and have attributed the remarkable decreases of the rates of uninsured individuals from marketplace.gov and health insurance exchanges from the first year the ACA had healthcare coverage available.

Implementation of the ACA would require an extensive expansion of the Medicaid program to low income adults in each state.³ The Congressional Budget Office projects that a previously 30 million uninsured Americans, approximately 92% of the legal, non-elderly population, will have coverage by 2022.³ The federal government will pay for 100% of the costs of expanding Medicaid programs until 2016, and then gradually fade their contribution to 90% by 2020.³ Currently, expansion of the Medicaid program is voluntary and several states have stated that they intend to turn down their share of the billions of dollars that has been made available to each state solely for the expansion of this program.³ States deciding to not expand their Medicaid program will not only exclude many poor, vulnerable families from access to an important health care program, but will also exclude themselves from an economic stimulus for their state and thereby decrease the strength of their health care delivery systems by not allowing them to be more financially stable for the long

Signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act and more commonly known as Obamacare, is arguably the most significant piece of social legislation the United States has passed since Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960’s. The law works to reduce health care spending in the U.S., provide more Americans with access to health insurance, give higher quality care, and make healthcare more affordable. The bill has been known for its extensive length (the condensed version of the law itself is 906 pages long and there thousands of pages of regulations) and with so many details packed in, it’s easy for Americans to get confused. Many argue that Obamacare has done more harm than good for our country; others call it a huge success. Whatever your opinion may be, it’s important to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of the act and the many changes that have been made since it was first signed into law.

The changes taking effect on the health care system can be greatly utilized by Americans, whether it is in a good or bad way. Today, most Americans do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it. With the Affordable Care Act, these Americans will be able to receive health care benefits. President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010. It was created to increase access to insurance coverage, whether through a private

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, putting in place comprehensive reforms that improve access to affordable health coverage for everyone and protect consumers from

The affordable Care Act implemented in March of 2010 by president Obama reform the way health care was previously run in the United States. The law went into effect, which allowed many Americans who did not currently have insurance and health care coverage to the ability to purchase coverage and access to health care. “ According to the CDC “ the affordable care act of 2010 is designed to provide access to coverage for previously uninsured Americans “ Center of Disease Control (2014).