Otherwise known as “ObamaCare” by its detractors (who thereby reveal they have never read the act), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the few bills excreted by Congress with congruence between its name and what it actually does. The “ObamaCare” label is inaccurate because- after massive tinkering by the health care industry & Congress -the bill is vastly different from the White House’s initial “principles”. Much miraculously made it through unscathed, however.
OK, Gary, what DOES it actually do? (I recommend you review the whole thing on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act)
Well, of many great provisions, one resounding success of the PPACA is reduction of Medicare/caid fraud. At a cost of $9.0 million last year (and with the help of 5000 volunteers), the bill’s enforcement provisions returned over $4.0 billion to the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, IRS & other agencies. Let’s see. Isn’t that a 44,444% return on the dollar? Not bad for government work. Naturally, Congressional puppets of the health “care” industry fought this provision tooth and nail.
I’ll look at other great parts of this bill in future blogs.