What was the justification for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010? What are some of the provisions of the Act? What role did past presidents play in providing national health care?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer:
An ideal response will:
1. Explain how proponents such as President Obama argued that health care reform was necessary to provide a more effective and efficient health care system. Many Americans lack health insurance. And for many, health care costs are too high.
2. Discuss how the law does not nationalize health care in the United States, nor does it offer a public option. Instead, the law requires that all Americans have health care insurance. Employers with 50 or more employees will be required to provide health insurance to their employees. Noncompliance will result in fines or tax penalties.
3. Indicate that the government created health exchanges that are designed to allow competition among insurers and offer more options at potentially lower prices to the public.
4. Indicate that Medicaid expanded under the law.
5. Indicate that dependent children under age 26 can remain on their parents' insurance policy.
6. Indicate that insurance companies are no longer be able to deny coverage for preexisting conditions.
7. Discuss how past presidents, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Bill Clinton, attempted to provide national coverage but were unsuccessful.