Table Of ContentThe Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act
Examining the Facts
Purva H. Rawal, PhD
Foreword by Len Nichols, PhD
Contemporary Debates
Copyright © 2016 by ABC-CLIO, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rawal, Purva H.
Title: The Affordable Care Act : examining the facts / Purva H. Rawal ;
foreword by Len Nichols.
Description: Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, [2016] | Series:
Contemporary debates | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015036658| ISBN 9781440834424 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781440834431 (eISBN)
Subjects: LCSH: Health care reform—United States. | Medical care, Cost of—
United States. | Health insurance—United States. | BISAC: HEALTH &
FITNESS / Health Care Issues. | POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / National.
Classification: LCC RA395.D44 R39 2016 | DDC 368.38/200973—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036658
ISBN: 978-1-4408-3442-4
EISBN: 978-1-4408-3443-1
20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
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Contents
How to Use This Book
Foreword by Len Nichols
Introduction
1 Passage and Implementation of the Affordable Care Act
Q1. Did President Obama and Democrats “Ram” the Affordable Care Act through
Congress and into Law?
Q2. Did the Affordable Care Act Include “Backroom Deals” with Industry to Ensure
Passage?
Q3. Did the Affordable Care Act Include Major Provisions and Elements That Had
Previously Received Support from Republicans?
Q4. Did the Failure of the Initial Affordable Care Act Website Rollout Threaten the
Future of the Affordable Care Act Itself?
Q5. Do Affordable Care Act Implementation Delays Prove the Law Is a Failure?
Q6. Did Congress Intend to Provide Subsidies Only to Individuals Purchasing
Coverage through State-Based Exchanges—and Not the Federal Exchange?
2 Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Federal and State Budgets
Q7. Did the Affordable Care Act Increase the Size of the Federal Deficit?
Q8. Does the Price Tag of the Affordable Care Act Exceed $2 Trillion?
Q9. Is the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion Crafted So That Individual
States Bear Very Little of the Cost?
Q10. Can the Reductions in Medicare Costs Contained in the Affordable Care Act
Finance Coverage Expansion and Extend the Life of the Program?
Q11. Is the Affordable Care Act Bending the Health Care “Cost Curve”?
Q12. Will the Affordable Care Act’s Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)
Result in Rationing in Medicare?
3 Consumer Choices and the Affordable Care Act
Q13. Were People Satisfied with Their Insurance Policies Able to Keep Those Policies
under the Affordable Care Act?
Q14. Did the Affordable Care Act Contain Provisions for “Death Panels”?
Q15. Will the Affordable Care Act’s New Entity on Comparative Effectiveness
Research Lead to Rationing of Care?
Q16. Under the Affordable Care Act, Do Individuals Have More Limited Choices in
the Physicians They See for Medical Care?
Q17. Do the Essential Health Benefits Requirements Contained in the Affordable Care
Act Require More Comprehensive Coverage to Be Made Available to
Consumers?
Q18. Will the Affordable Care Act Reduce the Number of Private Medicare Advantage
Plans for Seniors?
4 Employer-Sponsored Insurance and the Affordable Care Act
Q19. Will the Affordable Care Act Accelerate the Erosion of Employer-Sponsored
Insurance in America?
Q20. Is the Affordable Care Act a “Job Killer”?
Q21. Has the Affordable Care Act Increased Health Care Costs for Businesses?
Q22. Does the Affordable Care Act Actually Help Small Businesses by Reducing
Administrative Costs and Premium Volatility?
Q23. Are Employers Changing or Limiting the Health Coverage Options They Provide
to Employees in Response to the Affordable Care Act?
Q24. Does the Affordable Care Act Reduce “Job Lock” and Promote
Entrepreneurship?
5 Coverage for Individuals under the Affordable Care Act
Q25. Will the Affordable Care Act Reduce Insurance Premiums, as Many Advocates
Predicted?
Q26. Will the Affordable Care Act Increase Health Care Costs for Younger, Healthier
Individuals?
Q27. Does the Affordable Care Act Provide Health Coverage to Undocumented
Immigrants?
Q28. Was the “Navigator” Program Established in the Affordable Care Act to Help
Individuals Enroll in the Exchanges Effective?
6 The Health Care Industry and the Affordable Care Act
Q29. Does the Affordable Care Act Amount to a Government “Takeover” of the
American Health Care System?
Q30. Will Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) Improve Quality and Reduce
Health Care Costs?
Q31. Did the Affordable Care Act “Bail Out” Insurance Companies?
Q32. Will the Affordable Care Act Increase Market Competition among Insurers?
7 Individual and Community Health and the Affordable Care Act
Q33. Is the Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund a “Slush Fund”?
Q34. Will the United States Preventive Services Task Force’s Role in Prevention
Coverage Lead to Rationing of Health Care?
Q35. Will the Affordable Care Act Worsen Physician Shortages and Lead to Longer
Wait Times for Medical Care?
Q36. Does the Affordable Care Act Force Employers to Provide Contraception
Coverage and Fund Abortions?
Q37. Will the Affordable Care Act Improve the Overall Health of the American
People?
Q38. Will the Affordable Care Act Strengthen Primary Care?
8 Taxes and the Affordable Care Act
Q39. Does the Affordable Care Act Increase Taxes on Individuals and Businesses?
Q40. Does the Affordable Care Act Require All Uninsured Individuals to Buy
Insurance or Pay a Financial Penalty?
Q41. What Is the So-Called Cadillac Tax Contained in the Affordable Care Act?
Index
About the Author
