What issues does the Affordable Care Act address?
Asked by: Marlene Leffler | Last update: November 27, 2025Score: 4.9/5 (9 votes)
What are the three main goals of the Affordable Care Act?
The ACA has three primary goals at its foundation, collectively known as the Triple Aim. The Triple Aim goals are: improve patient care, improve population health, and reduce the cost of health care.
Which problem was the Affordable Care Act designed to address?
One of the primary aims of the ACA was to reduce the number of Americans who are uninsured. It did this through the extension of private and public health insurance.
What does the Affordable Care Act cover?
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.
Does the Affordable Care Act actually help?
The ACA has generally been associated with significant improvements in access and affordability and increases in outpatient utilization among low-income populations, but changes in inpatient utilization and health outcomes have been less conclusive.
Here's Why the Affordable Care Act Is So Controversial | History
What are the 10 essential health benefits of the ACA?
The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered health insurance coverage in the individual and small group markets to cover essential health benefits (EHB), which include items and services in at least the following ten benefit categories: (1) ambulatory patient services; (2) emergency services; (3) hospitalization ...
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.
What does the ACA law restrict?
The ACA also prohibits annual and lifetime limits on the dollar amount of coverage and restricts the amount of out-of-pocket costs individuals and families may incur each year for in-network care. Additionally, the law requires most health plans to cover preventive health services with no out-of-pocket costs.
Which is considered the most controversial issue related to the Affordable Care Act?
Individual mandate. The most legally and politically controversial aspect of the ACA, the individual mandate requires Americans to purchase health insurance or face a government penalty, with some exceptions—particularly for low-income individuals who cannot afford to buy insurance [3].
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.
What are ethical issues with the Affordable Care Act?
The recently enacted Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 has fueled ethical debate of several important controversial topics. Ethical issues of health care reform include moral foundations, cost containment, public health, access to care, ED crowding, and end-of-life issues.
How does the Affordable Care Act affect public health?
The law will result in health insurance coverage for about 94% of the American population, reducing the uninsured by 31 million people, and increasing Medicaid enrollment by 15 million beneficiaries. Approximately 24 million people are expected to remain without coverage.
What are the cons of the Affordable Care Act?
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.
Who is not eligible for Obamacare?
Must live in the United States. Must be a U.S. citizen or national (or be lawfully present). Learn about eligible immigration statuses. Cannot be incarcerated in prison or jail.
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 Affordable Care Act in simple terms?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a comprehensive reform law, enacted in 2010, that increases health insurance coverage for the uninsured and implements reforms to the health insurance market.
What are 5 mandated benefits under the ACA?
The 10 categories of benefits in an EHB package are: 1) ambulatory patient services, 2) emergency services, 3) hospitalization, 4) maternity and newborn care, 5) mental health and substance use disorder services, 6) prescription drugs, 7) rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices, 8) lab services, 9) ...
What is prohibited by the Affordable Care Act?
Section 1557 makes it unlawful for any health care provider who receives funding from the federal government to refuse to treat an individual—or to otherwise discriminate against the individual—based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.
What are the unintended consequences of the ACA?
Consolidation in the private health insurance market causes premiums to go up, with larger insurers often paying negotiated, lower prices to health care providers while charging more to employers and individual members.
Does the Affordable Care Act cover everyone?
You'll find the following protections for patients in the ACA California: Everyone in California has access to health insurance. Pre-existing health conditions cannot deny anyone health coverage or extra charges. Children can be listed on their parent's health plan until they are 26 years of age.
Does the Affordable Care Act cover surgery?
10 covered benefits:
Hospitalization (like surgery and overnight stays) Pregnancy and newborn care (both before and after birth) Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment, counseling, and psychotherapy. Prescription drugs.
What does insurance not cover?
Health insurance typically covers most doctor and hospital visits, prescription drugs, wellness care, and medical devices. Most health insurance will not cover elective or cosmetic procedures, beauty treatments, off-label drug use, or brand-new technologies.
What is a binder payment?
What is a binder payment? A binder payment is the first payment you make to an insurance company to purchase the health plan you enrolled in. The binder payment covers the cost of your first month's premium.