Affordable Care Act (ACA)

The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as the ACA, is a law passed in 2010 that aims to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. It does this by requiring individuals to have health insurance, requiring employers with more than 50 full-time employees to provide it, expanding Medicaid eligibility and creating state-based marketplaces for individuals to buy their own coverage.

The ACA is also commonly called Obamacare, though some people find this term offensive because they think it implies the ACA was passed only for political purposes.