Has the Affordable Care Act helped people?
Asked by: Aliza Emmerich | Last update: October 15, 2025Score: 4.3/5 (51 votes)
How has the Affordable Care Act helped?
Extensive research finds that people who gained coverage through the expansion have grown healthier and more financially secure, while long-standing racial inequities in health outcomes, coverage, and access to care have been reduced.
Has the Affordable Care Act saved lives?
We find a reduction in all-cause mortality in ages 20 to 64 equaling 11.36 deaths per 100,000 individuals, a 3.6 percent decrease. This estimate is largely driven by reductions in mortality in counties with higher pre-expansion uninsured rates and for causes of death likely to be influenced by access to healthcare.
How does the Affordable Care Act help consumers?
About the Affordable Care Act
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 (FPL). Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL.
Did people like the Affordable Care Act?
Despite these positive changes, a near majority of Americans still oppose the ACA, even though they approve of most of its features. They oppose the mandate that all Americans must have health insurance (the individual mandate), and they oppose a government role in health care.
Here's Why the Affordable Care Act Is So Controversial | History
What are the pros and cons of the Affordable Care Act?
The pros of the ACA include prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on health history and providing subsidies to reduce premiums and out-of-pocket costs. The cons of the ACA include small business challenges and limited provider options in some regions.
Did the Affordable Care Act help the economy?
Lower long-term deficits due to the ACA will mean higher national saving, which will increase capital accumulation and reduce foreign borrowing, thereby making workers more productive and increasing national income and living standards over time. 4. Improving health and making workers more productive.
What are the essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act?
A set of 10 categories of services health insurance plans must cover under the Affordable Care Act. These include doctors' services, inpatient and outpatient hospital care, prescription drug coverage, pregnancy and childbirth, mental health services, and more. Some plans cover more services.
Is the Affordable Care Act still in effect?
Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 amendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Most of the act's provisions are still in effect.
In which three ways did the Affordable Care Act affect individuals?
The Affordable Care Act significantly impacted individuals by ensuring women were not charged more than men for health insurance (A), allowing access to insurance regardless of health status (B), and mandating that most individuals obtain health insurance (C). Therefore, the correct answers are A, B, and C.
How many people were helped by the Affordable Care Act?
“Nearly 50 million Americans have been covered through the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplaces over the last decade.
Why is healthcare so expensive?
There are many factors that contribute to the high cost of healthcare in the country including wasteful systems, rising drug costs, medical professional salaries, profit-driven healthcare centers, types of medical practices, and health-related pricing.
Does the Affordable Care Act have lifetime limits?
The health care law stops insurance companies from limiting yearly or lifetime coverage expenses for essential health benefits.
Who benefits most from the Affordable Care Act?
The biggest winners from the law include people between the ages of 18 and 34; blacks; Hispanics; and people who live in rural areas.
How did the Affordable Care Act change healthcare?
It did so by expanding Medicaid to people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level (the poverty level in the continental U.S. is $15,060 for a single individual in 2024); creating new health insurance exchange markets through which individuals can purchase coverage and receive financial help to afford ...
What is the biggest problem with the Affordable Care Act?
Impact on Individual Insurance
It was also known that consumers would face a very different health insurance world under the ACA, with some people seeing their premiums go down and some seeing them go up, and the majority of Americans seeing higher deductibles, higher copays, and a smaller pool of providers.
Has the Affordable Care Act been successful?
The ACA continues to be a successful, popular, and important federal program to millions of people and their families.
What effects did the Affordable Care Act have?
The ACA uses two primary approaches to increase access to health insurance: It expands access to Medicaid, based solely on income, for those with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and creates eligibility for those with incomes from 139% to 400% FPL to apply for subsidies [in the form of advance ...
What did the Affordable Care Act do?
Under the Affordable Care Act, patients who may have been uninsured due to preexisting conditions or limited finances can secure affordable health plans through the health insurance marketplace in their state.
What were the 3 goals of the Affordable Care Act?
Overview of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
The Triple Aim goals are: improve patient care, improve population health, and reduce the cost of health care.
How can the Affordable Care Act be improved?
- Ensure Affordable Premiums.
- Reduce Cost-Sharing.
- Strengthen Coverage Requirements.
- Create Federal Backstops for Coverage.
- Simplify Plan Options and Enrollment Pathways.
Why should we have affordable health care?
Affordability impacts whether people can get the care they need, like insulin to manage their diabetes or following up on a mammogram. If those are too costly, people will delay or skip care, which has significant impacts down the line on both health outcomes and cost.
How does the ACA help the poor?
Health insurance is expensive and can be difficult to afford for people with lower or moderate incomes. In response, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides sliding-scale subsidies that lower premiums and insurers offer plans with reduced out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for eligible individuals.
Which of the following is a benefit of the Affordable Care Act?
The Affordable Care Act was created to reduce the rise of health care costs by providing affordable health insurance for millions of people. This act also provides improved health care delivery and made health care free.
Who does not benefit from the Affordable Care Act?
Individuals with incomes exceeding 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL; $46,680 for an individual, $95,400 for a family of four) are ineligible for either Medicaid or Marketplace tax credits. This group represents 16 percent of the ineligible, uninsured population. 2.