Our team members here at Elite Benefits Group are experts in all things health insurance, and that means we know everything you need to know about the Affordable Care Act. In this article, we’ll provide a brief overview of this act and what it means for you so that you can make informed decisions about your health insurance needs.
What is the Affordable Care Act?
The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, and its purpose was to make major changes to the USA’s existing health care landscape–namely, to expand health care coverage and control its costs so that more people could afford the care they needed. In other words, this act was designed to give more people access to health care, which would improve the overall health of the population.
How has the Affordable Care Act affected the country?
Since it was signed, the Affordable Care Act has had an enormous impact on this country. Its expansion of Medicaid has led to increased coverage for over 17 million low-income individuals, including millions of children. To put it a different way, a significant percentage of the population was going without proper care before, but the ACA put that care within their financial reach, and now they can get the treatment they need to stay healthy.
What has been the indirect impact of the Affordable Care Act?
In addition to its direct impact, the ACA has also had a significant indirect impact on the U.S. population. One key illustration of this impact is the fact that in 2015, rates of poverty and food insecurity steeply declined for the first time in eight years–since more families had access to affordable health care, they were able to get the treatments they needed while still being able to do things like buy food and pay rent.