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The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act ( Ppaca ) : Blazing A Trail For Healthier Americans Essay

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Running head: PPACA A TRAIL FOR HEALTHIER AMERICANS
Title: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA): Blazing a Trail for Healthier Americans

Introduction In the first quarter of 2016 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) legislation has lead to 20 million Americans gaining healthcare coverage, and a record low uninsured rate of 8.6 percent (U. S. Department of Health & Human Services [DHHS], 2016). Yet the verdict is out on whether the PPACA has been an improvement or a liability holding back the United States (US) healthcare system’s potential. The legislation was first integrated as a guide to the US healthcare system when it was signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010 (Rosenbaum, 2011). It planned to fulfill goals of improving access, affordability, and quality in healthcare (U. S. Department of Health & Human Services [DHHS], 2015). Full implementation of the healthcare reform was established on January 1, 2014, marking the start of individual and employer responsibility provisions, state health insurance exchanges, Medicaid expansions, and individual and small-employer group subsidies (Rosenbaum, 2011). As a whole the PPACA intended to “reframe the financial relationship between Americans and the health-care system to stem the health insurance crisis that has enveloped individuals, families, communities, the health-care system, and the national economy” (Rosenbaum, p. 131, para. 2). While the legislation has not fully

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