The Supreme Court is about to start hearing oral arguments to determine the fate of part, or all, of the 2010 health care reform law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and perhaps more popularly, as Obamacare.
I suspect that very few people have read the entire document. It is, after all, roughly 1000 pages long and written in policyese. The table of contents takes up 32 pages. Additionally, most of document amends other policies written previously, that will have to be addressed and explained. Therefore, on this the two year anniversary of the signing of the bill, I begin to go through the document, part by part, in order to explain what each section means. True understanding will require a great deal of background information, relating economic theory, and presumptions about the implementation of the various parts of the law. My credentials to do this? A doctorate in Economics and a master’s in Public Health. My motivation? A desire to understand it myself, and to share that understanding with you, my dear readers. My reward? Self-satisfaction and gloating at the next conference I attend.
Join me then, on this journey into the mysteries of health care, insurance, and government.
stayathomeeconomist 