“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) – also known as the Affordable Care Act or ACA – is the landmark health reform legislation passed by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010.”1 This law was enacted in a bid to improve quality of health care, access and affordability of treatment for Americans.2The ACA significantly expanded existing health laws such as the Medicaid and SCHIP (State Children Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP) in order to reduce the number of uninsured and improve health insurance coverage to Americans. In the United States of America, Medicaid is the largest health insurance program covering nearly 70 million Americans with low income and persons with disability.3 CHIP on the other hand provides health coverage at affordable rate to children in families whose income is too much money to qualify for Medicaid.2
The ACA created a new coverage avenue for uninsured adults who were not eligible for and/or enrolled in the Medicaid program, this was done by expanding eligibility for non-elderly adults (under age 65),
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In achieving this, the ACA made provisions, investments, and funding opportunities. These provisions allow for more innovations in Medicaid programs including the application of models like patient-centred medical homes which allows for preventive and primary care, increased care for beneficiaries with complex needs, and provided financial incentives for high performance.3 For example, with full federal funding, one ACA provision required that Medicaid programs in every state pay primary care physicians at Medicare rates (a substantial increase in many states) for 2 years.4 Also, as provided by states, one improvement to Medicaid Benefits is the provision of home and community health care for individuals with