Public policy project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Public policy project - Assignment Example The reforms are; new benefits, protection and rights, rules for the Insurance Companies, the taxes, the tax breaks, spending, funding, creation of committees, education and among others. The idea Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) came just a month after the inauguration of Obama (February 2009). During this time, the president addressed a joint assembly of the United States Congress, imploring the Congress that time was right for the overhauling of the health care. On September 9, Obama went yet another joint session of the Congress to outline the reform measures in regard to the Act. The version of the health care bill was passed on November 7 by the House of the Representative by a slim margin of 220-2015. Later on the Senate proceeded with its debate on the health care that was projected to be passed before the Christmas. Though it went through many hurdles, on December 24, all the Democrats united and the Senate passed its version of the legislation. On March 23, 2010 President Obama signed the Act. The Supreme Court on June 28, 2012 rendered the final decision to uphold the health care law. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Affordable HealthCare Act’s coverage expansion is approximated to cost $1.363 billion for the periods 2014-2023 in the mandatory expenditures (Gruber, 2011). The ACA and its companion reconciliation legislation contains a number of the provisions that are designed to raise the revenue to offset the cost of the health reform law. Apart from the individual mandatory tax/penalty, the ACA is partly funded by the increased taxes on the other non-health and health related items and services. Additionally, there are numerous new increased taxes and the fees that are meant to fund the Act. Some of the sources for the Act include; 0.9% increase in the Medicare Tax Rate, 3.8% new tax on the unearned income of the