Economics of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from 2011-2014

Running head: HEALTHCARE ECONOMICS 1
Healthcare Economics
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HEALTHCARE ECONOMICS 2
Introduction
The Healthcare Reform Bill has different teams that can be associated with it including
the likes of Obamacare, the PPACA, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and was enacted in
March of the year 2010 during the reign of the former United States’ President Barack Obama
(Act, 2017). This care was implemented for all of us, the people of the United States of America,
with three fundamental goals. These goals included availing the health insurance coverage to
more people and at a cheaper cost and, secondly, expanding the Medicaid program that was in
action to be accessible and cover every adult that had was below the provided 138% federal
poverty level here in the United States. Finally, the program was implemented to specifically
support other improved methods of delivering the medical care services to more people and at a
lower cost. However, this essay will specifically deal with the description of the economics of
the program and the effects and/or impacts of the reforms’ initiatives specifically on the years
2011 to 2014.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
This act, commonly known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),
was passed by the 111th American Congress under the administration of the former United
States’ President Barrack Obama. The program was to help those people with the lower income
levels be able to acquire the universal health insurance cover and better medical care. The basic
initiatives that were involved in the reform included the insurance cover, the insurance providers,
the technology behind the cover, and the reimbursements for the reform.
The ACA was set to cover the Americans, who have registered for the program and will
cover several aspects including the emergency care, prescription medication, and the

HEALTHCARE ECONOMICS 3
hospitalization bills. However, the insurance cover was set to leave out several aspects such as
the costs of weight-loss, the treatments on fertility issues and surgeries on cosmetics performed
on the patient under the cover (Blumental, Abrams, & Rachel, 2015). The other treatments left
out included the costs on the alternative medication or the commonly called traditional medical
therapies and the long-term care given to the old and people in need of it in the care homes.
The insurance providers of the program depend and differ from one state to another but,
currently, more insurance providers are leaving the program for the state-based insurance cover
due to one reason to another.
Economic impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
As provided by the reform, some of the impacts were felt at the time of implementation
while others are yet to be felt. In this essay, the years that will be put into consideration will be
the economic impacts felt from the year 2011 to the year 2014 as prescribed in below based on
the initiatives on the program.
The impacts by 2011
More registration and subscriptions
By the end of the year 2011, the insurance cover of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had
expanded and had covered more young adults who were reported to be left out in terms of the
insurance cover. By this year, 25.9% of all the young adults here in the United States were
recorded to be having no medical insurance cover and stood a high risk of not receiving the best
medical care. The reason for this was that the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) only
gave chances to the persons that aged 18-years and below. This meant that a person who was