Key Provisions of the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” was designed to assure that all Americans regardless of health status have access to affordable health insurance. The Affordable Car Act was signed into law March 23, 2010. The primary goal of this act was to decrease barriers for obtaining health care coverage and allow Americans to access needed health care services (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). After the legislation is fully implemented in 2014, all Americans will be required to have health insurance through their employer, a public program such as Medicaid and/or Medicare or by purchasing insurance through the health insurance marketplace exchange (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d). I will identify three parts of The Affordable Care Act that I believe are important. First, I will talk about the requirement that insurance companies are no longer able to deny coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions. Secondly, I will explain why physician payments are being shifted to value over volume. Lastly, I will discuss Medicaid expansion and why some states are not expanding at all.
Pre-existing Conditions
The Affordable Care Act introduced a plan that would allow Americans with pre-existing conditions to obtain health insurance without the hassle of being turned down or fear of being charged higher premiums. The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan was effective as of July 1, 2010. It allowed patient access to affordable healthcare in which they were previously denied due to their pre-existing condition (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d.). Patients were required to be uninsured for at least six months before they obtained this form of health insurance. In January 2014, the PCIP plans no longer exist due to funding issues so Amer...

... middle of paper ...

... R., & Nicholson, J. L. (2010). Realizing health reform's potential: young adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Commonwealth Fund.
Holahan, J. (2012). The cost and coverage implications of the ACA Medicaid expansion: National and state-by-state analysis. Retrieved from urban.org
Huntington, W. V., Covington, L. A., Center, P. P., & Manchikanti, L. (2011). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: reforming the health care reform for the new decade. Pain Physician
Miller, H. D. (2009). From volume to value: better ways to pay for health care. Health Affairs
Sommers, B. D., & Epstein, A. M. (2010). Medicaid expansion—the soft underbelly of health care reform. New England Journal of Medicine
Where the states stand on Medicaid Expansion. (2014, March 28). Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/resources/primers/medicaidmap