Policy Analysis for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Today, more than 23 million Americans are enrolled in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (hereinafter alternatively the Act), but this law remains a highly controversial political issue and its future remains uncertain (Stasha, 2022). To help determine its current status and recent trends, the purpose of this paper is to provide a policy analysis of this act, including its full and shortened titles, its origins in the U.S. Congress, as well as its original sponsors and co-sponsors. In addition, an examination concerning what actions have been taken regarding the Act as well as a general overview of the Act is followed by a summary of this landmark piece of federal legislation in the policy analysis conclusion.

Description of the Act

The bill number:

HR 3590 (now Public Law 111148 dated March 23, 2010).

The full title of the Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The shortened name of the Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is commonly referred to as the Affordable Care Act, ACA or Obamacare.

Hyperlink to the full text of the Act

http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/ppacacon.pdf

Chamber the Act was first introduced into

U.S. House of Representatives.

When was the Act first introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives?

The Act was originally introduced by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, together with a coalition of Democratic Representatives in July 2009 (Davalon, 2022).

Who is the Acts primary sponsor(s)?

The primary sponsor of the Act was Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) (Davalon, 2022).

Who is the Acts co-sponsors?

The Act had the support of 29 original co-sponsors and 10 subsequent Democratic Representative co-sponsors as well as one Republican Representative Todd Platts (R-PA) who joined as a co-sponsor on October 6, 2009 (H.R. 3590 [111th]: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2022).

What actions have been taken regarding the Act?

Not surprisingly, the sheer complexity of the Act has resulted in a number of actions being taken since it was first signed into law on March 23, 2010, including the major actions that are set forth in Table 1 below:

Table 1

Actions taken on the Act

Change

Description

Extensions...…to more people. The law provides consumers with subsidies (premium tax credits) that lower costs for households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level;

2. Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the federal poverty level; and,

3. Support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care generally (About the Affordable Care Act, 2022).

Conclusion

The research showed that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act, the ACA and Obamacare was originally introduced in July 2009 with the original sponsor being Democratic Representative Charles Rangel together with 39 Democratic and one Republican co-sponsors. The Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and millions of Americans have since enrolled in the health insurance coverage mandated by the Act since that time. Finally, the research also showed that a number of changes have been made to the Act over the years, with most of these being related to some type of delay in the…