What does the patient protection and affordable care act mean to you and your patients?

摘要

THE PATIENT PROTECTION and Affordable Care Act (PPACA; Public Law 111-148) was passed by Congress last March and signed into law by President Obama. Since then, much of the valuable coverage that is provided or slated to begin over the next few years has been lost in a barrage of negative language. The purpose of this editorial is not to debate the Affordable Care Act, as we all have different opinions, but to provide an overview of what this legislation means to you and your patients from a health care perspective. Personally, with almost 60 million Americans uninsured, including patients whose preexisting conditions kept them from acquiring affordable coverage and others who were dropped from plans after falling ill, I was delighted that we finally made a step forward with a first attempt at meeting the health care needs of those patients. I might have been persuaded to go another direction with another solution, but I didn't see any political opponents of the law providing any other solutions.