The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

On Topic

Signed into law by President Obama in 2010 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act fundamentally changes the U.S. health care system by requiring that nearly all Americans have health insurance by the year 2014. Brookings experts examine how the law may increase quality, access and efficiency in the U.S. health care system over time.

Nurse Susan Krussell RN shows saline bags she uses when administering medication to patients with Fungal Meningitis due to contaminated steroid infections, at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook).

Speech

The Future of the Affordable Care Act: a Debate on Its Effects

April 12, 2013, Henry J. Aaron

Henry Aaron examines the future of health care access from two perspectives: one view supporting the ability of the Affordable Care Act to rein in health care costs, the other noting the numerous and necessary outstanding changes that must take place in the health care system before the Affordable Care Act can even be implemented.

Recent Activity

Refine by: Health | U.S. Supreme Court | U.S. Politics | Supreme Court Rules on Affordable Care Act

In the News

Whoever wins the election, the (health care law) is going to be modified.
September 26, 2012, Mark B. McClellan, The Associated Press
Expert Q & A | Mark B. McClellan

The Future of the Affordable Care Act

August 10, 2012, Mark B. McClellan
In the News

[Mitt Romney] belongs to a very conservative party that hates this [health care] bill, many members of which have sworn that they’d rather eat ground glass than let this law go forward. But there is the conflicting problem of, ‘If you break it, you own it.’ [He will own] anything that goes wrong with the health-care system down the road.
July 10, 2012, Henry J. Aaron, Washington Post
In the News

Actual repeal of health care reform on “day one” of a Romney administration is not possible, but a President Romney—assisted by a Republican House and Senate—could put into motion the steps necessary to pursue repeal over the course of 2013. Technically, Romney’s success would depend on whether or not Republicans gain control of both the House and Senate, and on the byzantine rules of the budget process in Congress.
July 2, 2012, Sarah A. Binder, Washington Post
In the News

[E]verything associated with health care reform has been highly partisan, and that is not likely to change any time soon. Public opinion has been sharply divided from the very beginning and sentiments have not changed significantly over the past few years. It is a sad commentary on our times that people cannot see beyond their own party views to evaluate how the legislation affects them personally.
July 1, 2012, Darrell M. West, The Daily Kos
In the News

Public opinion on the [health care law] has been remarkably stable for two years, and I don’t think anything the president says (or Romney, for that matter) will make much of a difference. Only direct experience of the Act’s effects will change people’s minds, or alternatively, confirm them.
June 29, 2012, William A. Galston, Real Clear Politics Blog
Expert Q & A | Henry J. Aaron

Supreme Court Decides Affordable Care Act Is Constitutional

June 28, 2012, Henry J. Aaron
Interview | NPR News

Does Court's Rule Put End To Health Care Battle?

June 28, 2012, Kavita Patel
In the News

The irony of the Supreme Court's decision is that this will make little difference in the presidential election outcome in that the number one issue is the economy, remains the economy, with any number two issue back in the dust.
June 28, 2012, Stephen Hess, The Brookings Institution
In the News

It’s a huge victory for patients and everything about this law that patients really enjoy and have an opportunity to enjoy in the future have been critical to the ruling today.
June 28, 2012, Kavita Patel, National Public Radio