The Value Proposition for Individuals and the Public

Abstract

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 represents the single most important piece of healthcare legislation since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. When fully implemented, the law will extend insurance coverage to over 30 million Americans who had previously lacked insurance while also reforming the market for individual and small group insurance. Those who are unable to obtain health insurance through their employers will now have reliable options for obtaining insurance on their own. Although many object to some of its provisions, the Act achieves major accomplishments by extending health coverage to millions of Americans, enacting much needed reforms of private insurance market and putting in place numerous provisions that over time represent the best options of controlling the inexorable growth in the costs of providing health care to US citizens. Moreover, the status quo that many long for is likely an illusion, as accelerating rates of loss of private insurance coverage that had been present prior to enactment would likely have continued unabated.