Policy Analysis for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Today, more than 23 million Americans are enrolled in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (hereinafter alternatively the Act), but this law remains a highly controversial political issue and its future remains uncertain (Stasha, 2022). To help determine its current status and recent trends, the purpose of this paper is to provide a policy analysis of this act, including its full and shortened titles, its origins in the U.S. Congress, as well as its original sponsors and co-sponsors. In addition, an examination concerning what actions have been taken regarding the Act as well as a general overview of the Act is followed by a summary of this landmark piece of federal legislation in the policy analysis conclusion.
Description of the Act
The bill number:
HR 3590 (now Public Law 111148 dated March 23, 2010).
The full title of the Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The shortened name of the Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act, ACA or Obamacare.
Hyperlink to the full text of the Act
http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/ppacacon.pdf
Chamber the Act was first introduced into
U.S. House of Representatives.
When was the Act first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives?
The Act was originally introduced by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, together with a coalition of Democratic Representatives in July 2009 (Davalon, 2022).
Who is the Acts primary sponsor(s)?
The primary sponsor of the Act was Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) (Davalon, 2022).
Who is the Acts co-sponsors?
The Act had the support of 29 original co-sponsors and 10 subsequent Democratic Representative co-sponsors as well as one Republican Representative Todd Platts (R-PA) who joined as a co-sponsor on October 6, 2009 (H.R. 3590 [111th]: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2022).
What actions have been taken regarding the Act?
Not surprisingly, the sheer complexity of the Act has resulted in a number of actions being taken since it was first signed into law on March 23, 2010, including the major actions that are set forth in Table 1 below:
Table 1
Actions taken on the Act
Change
Description
Extensions...
…to more people. The law provides consumers with subsidies (premium tax credits) that lower costs for households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level;2. Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the federal poverty level; and,
3. Support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care generally (About the Affordable Care Act, 2022).
Conclusion
The research showed that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act, the ACA and Obamacare was originally introduced in July 2009 with the original sponsor being Democratic Representative Charles Rangel together with 39 Democratic and one Republican co-sponsors. The Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and millions of Americans have since enrolled in the health insurance coverage mandated by the Act since that time. Finally, the research also showed that a number of changes have been made to the Act over the years, with most of these being related to some type of delay in the…
References
About the Affordable Care Act. (2022). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-aca/index.html.
Davalon. (2022, January 1). History and timeline of the Affordable Care Act. eHealth. Retrieved from https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/history-timeline-affordable-care-act-aca.
H.R. 3590 [111th]: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (2022). GovTrack. Retrieved from https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr3590/cosponsors.
List of changes made to the Affordable Care Act (2022). Ballotpedia. Retrieved from https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_changes_made_to_the_Affordable_Care_Act.
Redhead, C. S. & Kinzer, J. (2015, March 3). Implementing the Affordable Care Act: Delays, Extensions, and Other Actions Taken by the Administration. Congressional Research Service Report 7-5700.
Stasha, S. (2022, March 5). 27+ Affordable Care Act Statistics and Facts. PolicyAdvice. Retrieved from https://policyadvice.net/insurance/insights/affordable-care-act-statistics/#:~:text=Numerous%20sources%20point%20out%20that,currently%20covered%20under%20the%20ACA.
Summary of the Affordable Care Act. (2013, April 25). Health Reform. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/health-reform/fact-sheet/summary-of-the-affordable-care-act/.
Affordable Care Act Legal Studies 101 Commerce Clause and the Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and a number of provisions have already gone into effect and still others are scheduled to be implemented over the next four years (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation sec. 2). Probably the most controversial provision is the requirement that Americans who chose not to purchase
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The Affordable Care Act means that health coverage will be required for almost every American and will be partially subsidized. However, it will not change the employer-centric, private-insurer-based system of financing and coverage. Demand for care will increase significantly and rapidly, but the underlying issues that created the need for a safety net in the first place will not be solved in the near future. Feldstein (2005) argues that if
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"Twenty-one State Attorneys General have filed suits to protect their citizens from being forced, in violation of the Constitution, to purchase government-approved health insurance" (Obamacare: Impact on States 4). Doctors are drastically being cut out of profit through Obamacare. As a result, "Nearly two-thirds of doctors are considering abandoning any kind of government-sponsored health care insurance, stating that regulations are too high and reimbursement too low" (Obamacare Facts 1). "Obamacare expands
Affordable Care Act (ACA) • Differentiate between at least three groups of stakeholders impacted by the ACA. Obamacare or the ACA (Affordable Care Act) was primarily designed and put into effect in the year 2010 with an objective of offering better healthcare insurance coverage for the American people and minimize the heavy costs incurred by the American people to access healthcare (Thompson, 2014). Although ACA has achieved sizeable success in coverage there
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