Health Care Reform

Health Reform Law: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to increase insurance and healthcare coverage and improve the quality of insurance and healthcare for Americans. The Health Reform Law would enable 32 million uninsured people to gain access to health insurance. By 2018, at least 95% of Americans would have health insurance coverage. This health reform law intends to improve many aspects of healthcare.

improve access to healthcare
provide better quality healthcare
increase preventive care
reduce Medicare costs
increase Medicare solvency
decrease out-of-pocket medication costs
increase the availability of primary care
improve opportunities for long-term care
improve chronic disease management
increase opportunities for home- and community-based care
control premium costs
insure high risk populations
prevent denial of or being dropped from insurance due to pre-existing conditions

The Affordable Care Act will be rolled out in multiple stages between 2010 and 2018. A detailed timeline of this rollout can be found on the official Health Care Reform website.

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html

There are many resources available to learn more about the Affordable Care Act, including

NCOA’s Straight Talk at NCOA Affordable Care Act Summary:

http://www.ncoa.org/public-policy/health-care-reform/straight-talk/.

Below is a list of key resources.

Resources

Affordable Care Act Federal Website

http://www.healthcare.gov/

Affordable Care Act Timeline

http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html

Kaiser Family Foundation Summary

http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8061.pdf