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Benefits Of The Affordable Care Act Essay

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The Benefits of the Affordable Care Act to Our People and Our Health Care System In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, concerns have been raised regarding the Republicans’ desire to repeal the Affordable Care Act, informally referred to as Obamacare. The ACA was originally enacted into law in 2010 and has been annually provisioned to expand its ability to not only improve the nation’s access to health care, but also to reform the health care delivery system. Through the ACA, private and public insurance has become more available and affordable, new health care delivery models have improved quality of care, and several workforce policies have made primary care a more desirable profession for medical students. The primary goal of the Affordable Care Act was to expand health care access to Americans and subsequently reduce the number of uninsured in the nation. From September 2013 to March 2015, there was a significant reduction in uninsured Americans from 17.6% to 10.1% (Anderson, Hempstead, Karpman, Kenney, Long, Shartzer, Wissoker, Zuckerman , 2015). This was achieved through the new laws affecting private insurance and the expansion of the government’s Medicaid program. The ACA started the process by extending tax credits to an estimated 4 million small businesses that would help them provide insurance for their workers in 2010 (Implementation, 2016). In 2013, a marketplace exchange was finally opened for the American people to compare and purchase

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