title: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the regulation of the health insurance industry.
abstract: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a comprehensive and multipronged reform of the US health care system. The legislation makes incremental changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and the market for employer-sponsored health insurance. However, it makes substantial changes to the market for individual and small-group health insurance. The purpose of this article is to introduce the key regulatory reforms in the market for individual and small-group health insurance and explain how these reforms tackle adverse selection and risk classification and improve access to health care for the hitherto uninsured or underinsured population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. saurabh.jha@uphs.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Saurabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jha
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D033161:Government Regulation; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017149:Private Sector / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States