The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as PPACA, healthcare reform, Obamacare, Affordable Care Act or the ACA, is a law enacted on March 23, 2010, which issued new rules and guidelines on the offering, administration, and acceptance of healthcare coverage in the United States. PPACA directly regulates healthcare providers, insurance companies, individuals, and employers. The law was amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act on March 30, 2010.
The law is quite broad, affecting insurance companies, hospitals, individuals, and employers. Many of the law’s sections have different effective dates. For instance, the individual mandate, the piece of PPACA which requires that individuals obtain a level of health coverage known as “minimum essential coverage” or face a tax penalty, went into effect in 2014. The employer mandates, or rules in PPACA which require employers to provide certain levels of coverage to certain employees, went into effect in 2015.
