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Essay about The Impact of The Affordable Care Act

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Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century the United States has always had a realization that there was a problem with obtaining affordable health insurance. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare, was signed into law in March 2010. This law enables people who were unable to afford healthcare the ability to obtain a healthcare plan at an affordable rate. In 2009 a survey was taken as to the amount of people in the United States that carried health insurance. In table one below you can see over 50 million people in the United States did not have any type of insurance, which is close to 17 percent of the population (see table 1 below). “According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “32% …show more content…

healthcare system. Table 1

Sources of Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2009 People (millions) Percentage of Population
Total Population 304.3 100
Private 194.5 63.9 Employment-based 169.7 55.8 Direct purchase 27.2 8.9
Public 93.2 30.6
Medicare 43.4 14.3
Medicaid 47.8 15.7
Uninsured 50.6 16.7
Source: Fronstin (2010). U.S. Healthcare Background and formation of the ACA Throughout the first part of the 20th century there was little effort to promote health insurance, but in the second half of the 20th century healthcare became a major concern. Once, Medicare and Medicaid were introduced in 1965 the government along with its citizens took a major step in the progression of healthcare. From then, there was a shift in the privatization of healthcare. This forced many of the lower class to be without health insurance. In 1993, President Clinton with the best of in intentions failed at establishing a universal healthcare system in the United States. Finally in 2006, Massachusetts passed a law that would provide healthcare coverage for all of its state residents. In 2010 the

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