What's Passed is Prologue: The Affordable Care Act

Abstract

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA), passed on March 23, 2010, is the most comprehensive U.S. healthcare reform legislature enacted since the passage of Medicaid and Medicare in 1965. The overarching design of the ACA hinges on three main goals: Reform the non-group insurance market, create an individual mandate, and make insurance affordable to lower income citizens (Grueber, 2011). In doing so, the law aims to expand coverage, control health care costs, and improve the health care delivery system. The ACA is not limited to providing and requiring health insurance; provisions to improve the quality of the health care system are integral to its methods. This comprehensive reform attempts to reduce many discrepancies within the healthcare system, but evaluating its potential to succeed involves understanding the underlying determinants and caveats of poor health, particularly among the uninsured impoverished. [From initial section]