The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is part of United States President Barack Obama’s legacy as he nears the end of his second term in office. Signed by President Obama in 2010, the PPACA is relevant because it lowers health care costs, makes health care insurance more attainable and increases the quality of care for Americans.
The PPACA's insurance coverage provisions are expected to reduce costs by approximately $100 billion over the coming 10 years, which happens to be more than the what the Congressional Budget Office initially projected (Demko, 2015). In its latest analysis, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan body, now projects that the U.S. government will until 2024 spend $1.35 trillion to, among other things, grow Medicaid.
Meanwhile, the CBO projects "that 8 million more Americans" signed up for Medicaid as well as the Children's Health Insurance Program due to the PPACA than would have been the case otherwise (Demko, 2015). The CBO adds that it believes "that 36 million non-elderly adults" would in 2015 be without insurance coverage, which was 19 million less than if the legislation had not become into effect. Again, this shows that the PPACA has been beneficial.
One of the primary goals of the PPACA is to increase the quality of care for Americans (Anderson, 2014), and the way that the PPACA seeks to accomplish this goal "is to move the medical workforce from the fee-for-service model of health care reimbursement to pay-for-performance." By rewarding health care workers for good service, quality of care will rise.
Indeed, it can be seen that the PPACA reduces health care costs, makes health care insurance more attainable to more Americans and increases the quality of care Americans. These benefits mean that the legislation is very much relevant.
Reference List
Projected ACA costs drop by $100 billion. (2015, January 26). Retrieved from www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150126/news/301269833
The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on the Health Care Workforce. (2014, March 18). Retrieved from www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/03/the-impact-of-the-affordable-care-act-on-the-health-care-workforce
