The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” was designed to ensure that all Americans, regardless of health status, have access to affordable health insurance. The Affordable Car Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. The primary goal of this law was to reduce barriers to obtaining health care coverage and allow Americans to access health care services. necessary health care (Affordable Care Act Summary, nd). Once the legislation is fully implemented in 2014, all Americans will be required to obtain health insurance through their employer, a government program such as Medicaid and/or Medicare, or by purchasing insurance through the health insurance marketplace ( Affordable Care Act Summary, nd). . I will identify three parts of the Affordable Care Act that I believe are important. First, I'll talk about the requirement that insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Second, I will explain why physician payments are now focused on value rather than volume. Finally, I will discuss Medicaid expansion and why some states are not expanding at all. be charged higher premiums. The Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Scheme took effect on July 1, 2010. It allowed patients to access affordable health care previously denied to them due to their pre-existing conditions (Affordable Care Act Summary, n.d. ). Patients had to be uninsured for at least six months before obtaining this form of health insurance. As of January 2014, PCIP plans no longer exist due to funding issues, so Amer...... middle of paper ...... R., & Nicholson, JL (2010). Realizing the Potential of Health Reform: Young Adults and the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Commonwealth Fund. Holahan, J. (2012). The cost and coverage implications of the ACA Medicaid expansion: National and state-by-state analysis. Retrieved from urban.orgHuntington, WV, Covington, LA, Center, PP, & Manchikanti, L. (2011). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Health Care Reform for the New Decade. Pain Physician Miller, HD (2009). From volume to value: better ways to finance health care. Health Affairs Sommers, BD and Epstein, AM (2010). Medicaid expansion – the soft underbelly of health care reform. New England Journal of MedicineWhere States Stand on Medicaid Expansion. (March 28, 2014). Accessed April 20, 2014 from http://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/resources/primers/medicaidmap