The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is a federal statute signed into law on March 23, 2010.  The law includes numerous health-related provisions to take effect over a four-year period.  The changes include expanding Medicaid eligibility, subsidizing insurance premiums, providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage/claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, and support for medical research.

The costs of these provisions are supposed to be offset by a variety of taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, improved fairness in the Medicare Advantage program relative to traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies.  There is also a tax penalty for citizens who do not obtain health insurance (unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons). The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the net effect will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.  Time will tell!