Final answer:
The question likely refers to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) which was enacted to provide access to affordable health insurance and reduce healthcare costs, and not OBRA. Obamacare aimed to ensure that all Americans, including the poor and those with pre-existing conditions, had health insurance, and through various reforms, significantly decreased the number of uninsured individuals.
Step-by-step explanation:
OBRA refers to a series of Legislative Acts in the United States, with one of the most notable being the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, which addressed the quality of healthcare, especially in nursing homes. However, the question seems to be referring to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), often known as Obamacare, which was enacted in 2010. The ACA was designed to address issues in the U.S. healthcare system and aimed to provide all Americans with access to affordable health insurance, require that everyone have some form of insurance, and to lower healthcare costs. Before the ACA, poor people and those without insurance often faced limited access to medical facilities and had limited healthcare options, frequently depending on emergency room visits that hospitals are federally mandated to provide.
Key components of the ACA included subsidies to help the poor afford insurance, mandates for individuals to obtain insurance or pay a penalty, expansions of the Medicaid program to increase eligibility, and guarantees for insurance coverage of people with pre-existing conditions. The act represented a significant overhaul of the American healthcare landscape since the passage of Medicaid in 1965. Through these measures, the ACA aimed to reduce the number of uninsured or underinsured individuals, which included many who were affected by high healthcare costs, inadequate insurance plans provided by employers, or were previously denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
While the ACA faced challenges, including legal disputes that reached the Supreme Court, it has remained largely intact and succeeded in reducing the uninsured rate and making healthcare more accessible for millions of Americans.