The Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, referred to as the Affordable Care Act or “ACA” for short, is the comprehensive health care reform law enacted in March 2010.

The law has 3 primary goals:

• Make affordable health insurance available 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  (FPL). 

• Expand the Medicaid program  to cover all adults with income below 138% of the FPL. Not all states have expanded their Medicaid programs.

• Support innovative medical care delivery methods designed to lower the costs of health care generall