in Action
Health reform makes health care more affordable, holds insurers more accountable, expands coverage to all Americans and makes our health system sustainable.
Relief for Americans & Businesses
The Affordable Care Act will ensure that American families and businesses have quality, affordable health care coverage options with a new health care marketplace that will be established in 2014. Until then, many Americans are able to access the coverage they need through essential reforms that take effect this year.
SEE: Overview 
Immediate relief A new marketplace Fiscal health Protecting Seniors
Relief Overview
See how you benefit from the Affordable Care Act.
Immediate Relief
We understand that many Americans need immediate relief in order to access the coverage they need until the new marketplace is established in 2014. That’s why the new law includes essential reforms that take effect this year:
Up to 4 million small businesses may be eligible for tax credits that will make it easier for them to provide coverage to their workers by making premiums more affordable.
Young adults are allowed to remain on their parent’s plan until their 26th birthday, unless they are offered coverage through their job. Up to 2.4 million young adults, up to 1.8 million who are uninsured and nearly 600,000 who purchase coverage in the individual market, could gain coverage through this provision of the new law.
Uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions can get insurance through the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program (PCIP).
Businesses, non-profits, State and local governments and unions may receive resources to maintain reliable health care for their early retirees – between age 55 and 64. More than 2,000 employers have been approved to participate in the $5 billion Early Retiree Reinsurance Program.
States have received critical assistance from the new $30 million grant program to establish Consumer Assistance offices that ensure consumers have a place to seek help while dealing with their insurance company. Additionally, 46 states are using resources provided by the Affordable Care Act to crack down on unreasonable premium increases.
A New Marketplace In 2014
In 2014, a new health care marketplace will be established and will ensure that American families and businesses have quality, affordable health care coverage options. In 2014:
New, competitive private health insurance exchanges will give millions of Americans and small businesses the ability to pool together and purchase affordable, quality coverage, the same way large employers do. And the exchanges will offer the same choices of coverage that members of Congress will have.
Small businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible for enhanced tax credits to help pay for their employees’ coverage.
Small businesses with up to 100 employees in a state will be able to join SHOP Exchanges, where they can pool together with other businesses to buy affordable, quality coverage for their employees.
Taken together, the provisions of the law are expected to expand coverage to 32 million Americans who would have otherwise been uninsured.
Strengthening America's Fiscal Health
The law takes important steps to cut health care costs and reduce the deficit. Under the new law, Americans buying comparable coverage to what they have today in the individual market will see premiums fall by 14 to 20 percent and the total cost of care provided to Americans who get their insurance through the workplace could fall by as much as $3,000 a person.
Families will also benefit from new tax credits that will help drive down costs. The new law provides refundable tax credits for Americans with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty (up to about $88,200 per year for a family of four) to purchase coverage through the state-based Exchanges. Many people in the individual market who qualify for tax credits could see their premiums drop by up to 60 percent relative to current premiums.
The new law also strengthens our fiscal health. It employs a wide range of strategies that achieve the goal of greater value for health care, including provisions to:
- Fight waste, fraud, and abuse;
- Reward providers for delivering high quality care; and
- Reform our health care delivery system by developing innovative ways to manage care for patients, especially those who have chronic conditions, like diabetes.
These measures will encourage providers to deliver higher quality care by creating payment structures that promote value. Taken together, the cost saving strategies in the law will make our health care system more efficient. Overall, the law reduces the deficit by over $100 billion this decade and by over $1 trillion in the next decade.
Protecting Seniors
Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the fiscal health of Medicare was weak. The new law took steps to shift the course of Medicare and secured its long-term future. The law ensures that we continue to protect seniors’ guaranteed benefits, while taking important steps to fight waste, fraud and abuse, make the program more efficient and extending new benefits to seniors. Overall, the law extends the life of the Medicare trust fund by 12 years, from 2017 to 2029, so it can remain a reliable source of coverage for current and future generations of seniors.
Medicare Spending With and Without Reform, 2009-2019
Before the new law passed, each year about a quarter of Medicare Part D beneficiaries hit the prescription drug coverage gap known as the "donut hole", where they would have to bear all the costs of their prescription drugs. The law has already provided 4 million people with Medicare with a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate to help reduce drug costs - the first step in completely closing the donut hole by 2020. This year seniors will get 50 percent discounts on covered brand name prescription drugs, receive free preventive care and a free annual wellness visit under Medicare.
Before the Affordable Care Act, Medicare paid Medicare Advantage insurance companies over $1,000 more per person on average than Original Medicare. These additional payments were paid for in part by increased premiums by all Medicare beneficiaries - including the 77 percent of seniors not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. The new law levels the playing field by gradually eliminating Medicare Advantage overpayments to insurance companies. Guaranteed benefits will be protected for seniors in these plans.
50 States / 50 Stories
Find out what's happening in your state and listen to stories from Americans across the country.
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Take a Closer Look
For more in-depth information on the positive effects of health reform, watch the videos or download one of these PDF reports.
Health Reform for Latinos
Health Reform for African Americans
PDF Reports:
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis discusses Health Reform, for Latinos
Reforma de salud para los Latinos. Secretaria de Trabajo Hilda Solis.
Dr. Garth Graham from Office of Minority Health discusses Health Reform and African Americans
