John Stanfield
Crafton Hills College
101-41
The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by President Barack Obama (Petersen, 2012). Obamacare is the cornerstone of the Commander in Chief’s hard fought stance on health care reform. The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act’s goal is to provide every American access to quality and affordable health care (Petersen, 2012). This Act is made up of nearly 60 individual provisions will be enacted parts at a time all the way up to the year 2020 (Petersen, 2012). Many of the provisions have been hotly debated by Democrats and Republicans alike without being educated as to what each provision specifically entails When it became time for the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act to be voted on for approval in congress, Petersen (2012) had shown that all Democratic members of the Senate and two Independent members had approved it in December of 2009, while all Republicans had opposed it. Final tally was 60 votes in favor and 39 votes against. In the House of Representatives on March 21, 2010, Obamacare received most of the Democratic vote and again received no votes from a Republican Congressman, winning The House 219-212 (Petersen, 2012). The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act was then signed into law on March 23, 2010 Research by Pickert (2011) showed that only specific portions of Obamacare were deemed effective at the time the Act was signed into law, the rest were and will be enacted at scheduled times up until the year 2020. Baker (2011) pointed out the first parts of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act that took affect were that the Food and Drug Administration could now grant manufacturers of biologic drugs exclusive rights to their drug patents for twelve years, after that period of time generic versions could be produced. Another provision made was that all