The Affordable Care Act – Have You Read It Yet?

Well, have you?  With all the furor and debate these past several years I know you’ve heard about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), often called Obamacare.  Its full name is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  What do you know about it?  Just the few sound bites that flood the media?  With the Supreme Court’s decision leaving it intact, the Republican Party is making its repeal the rallying cry for their bid for November’s Presidential Election.  Our country is divided on the issue, and yet, I would bet that the majority of Americans haven’t even read it.  They rely on what they have heard in the news or from their favorite commentator or politician.  The problem is that those messages are designed to be short & emotionally charged, yet ACA is, of necessity, quite broad.

Because your vote this November can be critical to the health of the healthcare system of the United States, I urge you to take the time to read through the law to understand it in more detail.  I have included a copy of the Affordable Care Act and the associated Health Care section of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.  Just Click Here or the link on the right to open it in a separate window.

A couple of points:

• The ACA is divided into 10 Titles followed by the Reconciliation section.  Think of the Titles as chapters.
• The last Title of ACA contains all the amendments that were made to the original draft of the law and is entitled, Title X – Strengthening Quality, Affordable Healthcare For All Americans.
• Title IX – Revenue Offset Provisions covers the sources of the money that will pay for the components of the law.
• The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 reconciles the ACA with the Federal budget.
• The ACA & the Reconciliation Act file available through the link on this blog total 974 pages.  References have been made stating that it is over 2,400 pages long.  This discrepancy is due in part to the fact that certain copies of it as it went through the legislative process were formatted differently and double-spaced.

Suggestions:

• Rather than reading the law straight through, review the table of contents at the beginning.  This will give you a quick overview of the topics it covers.  Then you can start to read about the aspects of the law that are of interest to you.
• I urge you to read Title IX that deals with Revenue Offset Provisions.  It includes requirements that health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies & the makers of medical devices must pay billions of dollars annually based upon their market share.  It also limits the income of health insurance executives.  I think this Title is especially telling because it shows who has the most to lose with this law and may explain why people take the positions they do.

So, take the time to learn about the Affordable Care Act.  You’ll be surprised at what you’ll learn and be better able to judge the accuracy of the many statements about it that fill the media.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob