Final answer:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, mandates that insurance policies must be ACA-compliant and allow adult children to stay on their parents' policy until age 26. The ACA expanded Medicaid, created insurance marketplaces, prohibited denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, and required large employers to offer insurance, successfully reducing the uninsured rate in the U.S.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Act referred to in the question is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare. This landmark legislation, passed in 2010, made comprehensive changes to the U.S. health insurance system, aiming to increase affordability and accessibility of health insurance. It notably requires insurance companies to make policies ACA-compliant and, among other provisions, allows adult children to be covered under their parents' insurance policy until the age of 26.
The ACA also expanded Medicaid eligibility to cover millions of low-income Americans and created state-based insurance marketplaces where individuals without employer-provided insurance could purchase plans. Moreover, the ACA ensures that individuals with preexisting conditions cannot be denied coverage, and provides subsidies to make insurance more affordable to qualifying individuals. The employer mandate of the ACA requires all employers with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance.
Overall, the ACA significantly reduced the uninsured rate in the U.S., with the Department of Health and Human Services estimating a drop from 20.3% in 2012 to 11.5% in 2016, allowing approximately 20 million Americans to gain insurance coverage.