Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are the first part of the comprehensive health care reform law signed by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The second part, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, was signed on March 30, 2010. The law provides rights and protections that make health coverage more fair and easy to understand, along with subsidies to make it more affordable. The law, the most significant regulatory overhaul of health insurance coverage since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, also expanded the Medicaid program to cover more people with low incomes.

The health care law is sometimes known as “Obamacare”.