Commentary on part I: Objectives of the ACA

Abstract

Even before the outcome of the November 2012 presidential and congressional elections abruptly terminated the electoral challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Obama’s signature policy accomplishment had already set in motion transformative changes to the nation’s healthcare system that are unlikely to be reversed. Although many of its most important provisions will not go into effect until 2014, the ACA has begun the process of expanding access to care, correcting widespread abuses and inequities in the health insurance markets, improving the quality of care, enhancing preventive care, and facilitating the emergence of new healthcare delivery and payment systems.