The article I chose to research and learn about was the Affordable Care Act and its subsequent effect on Connecticut residents. On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Along with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, the law put in place comprehensive health insurance reforms. The law makes preventive care more accessible and affordable for many Americans. With the Affordable Care Act, we took one of the most important steps toward a more accessible and affordable health care system in almost 50 years. The article mostly focused on observing the effects the Affordable Care Act had on Connecticut’s existing healthcare policy holders as well as the uninsured. Connecticut’s policy makers and advocates hoped to see a decrease in uninsured residents as an effect of the Affordable Care Act. According to the statistics, the Affordable Care Act resulted in the decrease in uninsured residents. An example of these statistics is as follows, there was a drop in uninsured residents from 9.4% to 6.4% which resulted in 88,000 less uninsured residents than before. However it is important to note that 247,000 people are still uninsured. In addition to this, in the previous year the rate of uninsured people dropped more than it had in the last decade. The national average for the drop in uninsured as a result of the Affordable Care Act was 2.8% so Connecticut was slightly below the average with a 2.5% drop. It is important to note however that Connecticut’s starting rate of uninsured residents was relatively lower than other states. Although overall the effect of the Affordable Care Act is positive there is still work to be done to lower the number of uninsured residents, this can be achieved through better education and outreach about the subsidized programs.

The law put in place comprehensive health