Health Reform

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. The enactment of the Affordable Care Act begins to shift our health system from one that focuses on treating the sick to one that focuses on keeping people healthy. Already, the ACA has made important improvements to our health care system: American families have additional benefits, including greater access to preventive health care services; young adults up to age 26 are able to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans; communities across the country are implementing prevention and public health programs; insurance companies are prevented from denying kids access to insurance coverage because of a preexisting condition; and many more.

Through the ACA, the Prevention and Public Health Fund is providing an unprecedented investment in programs to reduce tobacco use, improve nutrition, strengthen our state and local health departments and increase the availability and use of immunizations in an effort to prevent some of the leading causes of death.

APHA has been at the forefront of promoting and protecting the critical public health provisions in the ACA. Through direct meetings, letters and testimony and comments to Congress and federal agencies, APHA has continued to express strong support for the ACA and has provided important guidance on many of the provisions in the law. Additionally, APHA and our affiliates make up many of the more than 750 organizations that have stated their support for the Prevention and Public Health Fund and APHA has been one of the leaders in continuing to raise awareness of the essential work the Fund is doing in states and communities across the country.

APHA has created many resources on the ACA, including a briefs on the prevention provisions in the ACA, the public health workforce provisions in the ACA, and a timeline of the implementation of public health and prevention provisions.  Additional materials are available on this website. Continue to check back for new and updated resources.

The full text of the law, as well as section-by-section summaries, can be found here.