Why is the Affordable Care Act important?

Asked by: Davin Berge  |  Last update: January 4, 2024
Score: 4.1/5 (5 votes)

Since its enactment on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act has led to an historic advancement of health equity in the United States. This landmark law improved the health of all Americans, including women and families, kids, older adults, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ and communities of color.

What is benefit of the Affordable Care Act?

Make affordable health insurance available 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 (FPL). Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL.

What are 3 benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

Affordable Care Act (ACA) basics

Among other things, the ACA made it easier for many people to get coverage, removed annual and lifetime limits on essential health benefits and put in place requirements that individuals have medical coverage or pay a tax penalty.

Why is the Affordable Care Act important in healthcare?

The ACA supports public health prevention efforts. It created the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has paid for public health efforts across the country. The ACA requires insurance policies to cover essential health benefits that can help prevent serious, costly conditions.

What are the 10 essential benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

Essential health benefits ensure that health plans cover care that patients need
  • Ambulatory patient services (outpatient services)
  • Emergency services.
  • Hospitalization.
  • Maternity and newborn care.
  • Mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment.
  • Prescription drugs.

Obamacare Explained: Understanding the Affordable Care Act

15 related questions found

Who benefits most from the Affordable Care Act?

People with the lowest incomes tended to benefit the most from the law. That makes sense, given how the Affordable Care Act is designed. In states that expanded Medicaid, low-income people can get insurance without having to pay a premium.

What is a major feature of the Affordable Care Act?

The ACA prohibits lifetime monetary caps on insurance coverage, limits the use of annual caps, and establishes state rate reviews for insurance premium increases.

What are two major benefits of the Affordable Care Act?

Two of the biggest coverage expansion provisions of the ACA went into full effect in 2014: the expansion of Medicaid and the launch of the health insurance marketplaces for private coverage. Together, these programs now cover tens of millions of Americans.

How does the Affordable Care Act affect Americans?

Gaining insurance coverage also increased the probability of having a usual place of care by between 47.1 percent and 86.5 percent. These findings suggest that not only has the ACA decreased the number of uninsured Americans, but has substantially improved access to care for those who gained coverage.

How did the ACA make healthcare more affordable?

The ACA helps to make health care more affordable in two ways: by providing insurance coverage for approximately 50 million people who are currently uninsured and by striving to control health care costs by changing how medical services are paid for.

Is the Affordable Care Act good for the economy?

In reviewing evidence over the past five years, this report concludes that the ACA has had no net negative economic impact and, in fact, has likely helped to stimulate growth by contributing to the slower rise in health care costs.

How efficient is the Affordable Care Act?

More than 20 million people have gained coverage as a result of the ACA. It has dramatically reduced the uninsured rate. On the day President Obama signed the ACA, 16 percent of Americans were uninsured; in March 2020, it was nine percent.

What are the two main parts of the Affordable Care Act?

The law has 2 parts: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.

Has the Affordable Care Act helped people?

The ACA has reduced the number of uninsured people to historically low levels and helped more people access health care services, especially low-income people and people of color.

How many Americans benefit from the Affordable Care Act?

New Reports Show Record 35 Million People Enrolled in Coverage Related to the Affordable Care Act, with Historic 21 Million People Enrolled in Medicaid Expansion Coverage.

What is not included in the Affordable Care Act?

Long-term care: You will need to pay for long-term care if you become disabled or need to move to a nursing home. It's not an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act and is not covered by Medicare or most private health plans. Abortion: Abortion is not one of the essential health benefits.

What were the two main goals of the Affordable Care Act ACA with respect to health insurance?

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has two main goals: (1) to make health care coverage more available, affordable, and acceptable and (2) to slow the growth of health care costs in the U.S.

What are three benefits of the Affordable Care Act quizlet?

Match
  • extending insurance coverage to the uninsured/underinsured.
  • decreasing costs by improving efficiency.
  • expanding prevention and wellness programs (PH measures)
  • protecting against undue financial burdens on individuals as a result of healthcare expenditures.
  • improving patient safety and quality of care.

Why is the Affordable Care Act controversial?

One early controversy concerned whether individuals would lose their current health plans when the new law took effect. Initially, some insured people were taken by surprise when their insurers canceled policies that did not qualify as minimum essential coverage (MEC) under the ACA.

Does the Affordable Care Act require everyone to have insurance?

As of Jan. 1, 2019, there is no mandate for health insurance at the federal level. Before 2019, under the ACA, also called Obamacare, U.S. adults who were not otherwise eligible for an exemption were required to have health insurance coverage for themselves and their families.

Who is subject to the Affordable Care Act?

It applies to employers with 50* or more full-time employees, and/or full-time equivalents (FTEs). Employees who work 30 or more hours per week are considered full-time.

Did the Affordable Care Act save 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 causes of death likely to be influenced by access to health care, and equates to one life saved per 310 newly covered individuals.

How has the Affordable Care Act helped low income families?

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law on March 23, 2010, brought expanded access to Medicaid in 34 states and Washington, DC, which means that people living in poverty in these states can access Medicaid much more quickly and easily than before.

How did the ACA reduce income inequality?

Those in the lowest-income group—many of whom gained Medicaid coverage under the ACA—are better off because their out-of-pocket health spending is reduced and they do not pay private health insurance premiums. Middle-income groups gain no income benefit under the ACA.

What is the biggest impact of the ACA?

Since its enactment on March 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act has led to an historic advancement of health equity in the United States. This landmark law improved the health of all Americans, including women and families, kids, older adults, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ and communities of color.