The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: How it Affects Health Care Decisions and Outcomes

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires that U.S. citizens and legal residents obtain qualifying health coverage. Write a report of 6-8 pages that explores the individual mandate section of this health reform law and how current legislation impacts this. Complete the following:

• Explain the individual mandate included in the PPACA including the tax penalties imposed if a person or family had not obtained qualifying health coverage. 
• How has mandated health insurance coverage under PPACA worked?  What impacted its success? If you were required to make one policy change or enhancement to ensure the success of an individual mandate such as included in the PPACA, what would you recommend? 
• Assess the historical relationship between the cost of health care and outcomes in the United States with the cost of health care and outcomes in another country. What policies could be considered to assist in changing the relationship between costs and outcomes to a more efficient relationship in the United States, if at all?

Note: Your report should use APA formatting, and you must include 6 references, 4 of which are peer-reviewed sources from health care journals and published within the last 5 years.

Reference

United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). http://www.census.gov/