The Components Of The Affordable Care Act

Full Answer Section

• Individual mandate: The ACA requires most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty. This has helped to reduce the number of uninsured people in the United States by about 10 million.

• **Essential health benefits: The ACA requires all health insurance plans to cover a set of essential health benefits, such as preventive care, prescription drugs, and hospitalization. This has helped to ensure that people with health insurance have access to the care they need.

• **Pre-existing condition protections: The ACA prohibits health insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions. This has helped to make health insurance more affordable and accessible for people with health problems.

• **Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit: The ACA made changes to Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit for people with Medicare, to make it more affordable and accessible. These changes included increasing the subsidies available to help people pay for their prescription drugs and closing the donut hole, the gap in coverage between what Medicare pays for prescription drugs and what people have to pay out of pocket.

• **Healthcare delivery reforms: The ACA also includes a number of healthcare delivery reforms aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of care. These reforms include promoting the use of electronic health records, paying doctors and hospitals for quality instead of quantity, and giving patients more control over their care.

These are just some of the components of the ACA that I think will have a positive effect on improving health care outcomes and decreasing costs. The ACA is a complex law, and it is still too early to say definitively what its long-term impact will be. However, the early evidence suggests that it is having a positive impact on the health care system.

In addition to the ACA, there are a number of other factors that are likely to affect the future of health care in the United States. These include the aging population, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and the rising cost of care. The ACA is one piece of the puzzle, but it will take a combination of approaches to address the challenges facing the health care system.

Sample Answer

• *Medicaid expansion: The ACA expanded Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income people, to cover millions of Americans who were previously uninsured. This has helped to reduce the number of uninsured people in the United States by about 20 million.

• **Health insurance marketplaces: The ACA created health insurance marketplaces, also known as exchanges, where people can shop for and buy health insurance plans. These marketplaces have made it easier for people to find affordable health insurance coverage.