The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), passed by the Senate on Dec. 24, 2009, and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, is the basis for the U.S’s current experiment in health care reform. A copy of the section-by-section analysis of the PPACA, as it was enacted and prepared for the Senate, can be accessed by clicking here.
The obvious focus of the PPACA is individuals and their families. Given the purpose of the PPACA to make health care available to all Americans and the role that health care-related expenses play in consumer bankruptcies, most of its provisions will be relevant to those representing either debtors or creditors in consumer bankruptcies. Additionally, those representing other parties, including employers, insurers, health care providers, and drug and medical device manufacturers, will become familiar with specific sections of the PPACA that will directly impact their clients’ operations and finances, such as (1) §§ 1001 and 1201, which directly regulates the operations of health care insurers, as well as the products they offer; (2) § 1421 governing the credits available to small businesses; (3) §§ 1501-1515, which sets out certain responsibilities for employers; and (4) title III, entitled “Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Health Care,” which will impact health care providers (particularly the provisions affecting how providers are paid); and Title VI, entitled Transparency and Program Integrity, which will affect all aspects of the health care industry.
Last month, the House of Representatives enacted the PPACA as amended by the Health Care and Educational Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA). A copy of the March 23, 2010, section-by-section analysis of the HCERA as prepared by the House Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor can be accessed by clicking here.
Finally, the potential cost of health care reform has been—and remains—a significant issue. A copy of the March 18, 2010, analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) of the budgetary effect of the PPACA, as amended by the HCERA, can be accessed by clicking here. The CBO concludes that the enactment of PPACA, as amended by the HCERA, would significantly reduce the federal deficit.