Affordable Care Act Essay

Background
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is officially referred to as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was enacted into law on March 23, 2010. It is estimated that prior to the enactment of the ACA, 44% or 81 million people between the ages 19-64 were either uninsured or underinsured in the United States (Schoen, Doty, Robertson, & Collins, 2011). The populations most likely to be uninsured or underinsured are individuals with earning between 133-200 % below the established federal poverty guidelines (Schoen et al., 2011). Consequently, 80% of individuals with earning under $20,000-$39,999 were uninsured or underinsured (Schoen et al., 2011). The uninsured population has increased substantially over the years, with the largest increase occurring from 2003 to 2007. The financial recession is cited as a possible reason for underinsured or

Ensuring millions of Americans have access to free preventive screening and care will reduce the burden on the health care system in the future. In other words, diseases detected earlier are less costly to the health care system compared to those detected during the later stages. Diseases that are detected during the progressive stage of the illness are more costly to the health care system and the individuals. More importantly, individuals are more likely to recover from a disease that is detected during the early stages which will improve the health and well-being of the US population. In order to achieve the goals established by the ACA, different components were created to ensure a holistic approach to health care and services provided to individuals. The different components of the ACA include: Affordable Health care for America, the Patient Protection Act, Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act and the Student and Fiscal Responsibility