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The Affordable Care Act ( Aca )

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On March 23,2010 the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, was signed into law. This act aims to provide affordable health care coverage for all United States citizens. “The Affordable Care Act affirms the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care.” (President Obama) It will provide insurance to more than thirty million people who have been previously uninsured, and will be achieved by expanding Medicaid and extending federal subsidies to the lower and middle income Americans to aid in purchasing private coverage. Although many attempt to view it in a completely positive or completely negative way it affects all aspects of the health care industry in various ways.
The effect of the Affordable Care Act has created a positive influx on the major insurance carriers. According to the New York Times it has made insurers the “most direct beneficiaries of the law.” (investor pedia) Since 2013 these insurance companies have been some of the more profitable stars of Wall Street (Forbes.com). Aetna Inc., Anthem INC., Cigna, Humana Inc., and United Health Inc., the five biggest health insurers in America, have outperformed the S&P 500 Index over the last five years (invesotrpedia). One of the major reasons this is proved to be true is exchange premiums for the young and the healthy are much higher with Obamacare than ever before. As stated above The Affordable Care Act mandates that each individual must be insured

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