Health Care Reform Act
Any legislation that affects one sixth of the U.S. economy, insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid, all 50 states, physicians and hospitals, pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies, medical research, taxes, and federal and state budgets is bound to be comprehensive and full of a myriad of details. Even so, more specific rules and standards will have to be drafted by specific agencies to fill in the still inevitable gaps and oversights. Some changes will have to be enacted in future legislation and others clarified by court decisions.
But for years–decades in fact–experts on all sides of the political spectrum have clamored for comprehensive reform of one kind or another, reforms that address our uniquely inadequate coverage for our citizens, our very costly and not always high quality care, and our poorly integrated and widely varying delivery system. Any enacted reform has to be complicated, rolled out over a reasonable timeframe, and grasped by individuals, providers, insurers, and many others. It was not enough to just try to provide more insurance competition, malpractice caps, high deductible plans, savings accounts, or tax credits.
Thus we believe this Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a good start at addressing our current problems. We have attempted to break down the details into sections that give you relevant information for your situation. But we hope you will also see how the various parts of this legislation, in theory at least, coordinate and reinforce each other.
The following pages provide links to or files of the actual legislation, more reader-friendly summaries, and timetables on when various provisions in the bill become effective:
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