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President Obama 's Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act

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The United States, as a developed, wealthy nation, possesses the largest disparity between social classes in relation to health care and access to health care services (Wright & Boorse, 2014). Because of this disproportion and regardless of spending the most health care dollars per person, the United States ranks lowest amongst developed nations in life expectancy, has the most children living in poverty, and the most people in prison (Wright & Boorse, 2014, p. 200). President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed by the U.S. Congress and the Senate in 2010, sought to correct the imbalances that exist between the classes in relation to both health care and health insurance with socialized medicine. While the Affordable Care Act has contributed to cost savings, reductions in fraud, abuse, and misuse of health care resources, along with health insurance for all, the Affordable Care Act has had an untoward, negative effect on the delivery of primary care (Mori, 2016). Hence, decision-making authority over primary care has shifted from the physician and into the hands of Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s) created by the government, insurance companies, and private health care systems (Mori, 2016).

Under the Affordable Care Act, traditional fee for service reimbursement will be methodically phased out over time and be replaced by quality of care reimbursement; therefore, the focus of primary care will be shifted from the actual treatment of patients

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