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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), although a subject of much debate in the Unites States, was enacted on March 23, 2010, and upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012. This act advocates that "healthcare is a right, not a privilege." The main goals of PPACA are to minimize the number of uninsured Americans and make healthcare available to everyone at an affordable price. The Congressional Budget Office has determined that 94% of Americans will have healthcare coverage while staying under the $900 billion limit that President Barack Obama established by bending the healthcare cost curve and reducing the deficit over the next 10 years.
KEY WORDS: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010; preexisting conditions; coverage extension; access to preventative services.
We are now well into the 21st century, and there is no doubt that the United States is overdue for a change in its healthcare system. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 49.9 million uninsured residents in the United States in 2010.1 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States spends more on healthcare per capita than any other industrialized country. The United States also spent more money on healthcare as a percentage of GDP than any other nation in 2008 and had the fourth-highest government healthcare spending per capita.2 In 2000, the WHO ranked the U.S. health care system as the highest in cost, 37th in overall performance, and 72nd in overall level of health among 191 member nations included in the study. However, it was listed as the first in responsiveness.3
The saying "you get what you pay for" does not apply to the healthcare system in the United States, which obviously lags behind other industrialized nations in providing healthcare. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) was created to address that deficiency. PPACA, more commonly known as Obamacare, has been the subject of much debate in the Unites States, especially during the 2008 and 2012 elections. However, despite much controversy, the bill was signed on March 23, 2010, and it was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012.
PPACA advocates that "healthcare is a right, not a privilege, " an idea that has...