It has been a year since the Archives announced the “Health Care Reform” series.1 We wanted to contribute, if only in a small way, to the national efforts to increase access and improve the quality of health care in the United States. Now, it is time to take stock on what has been accomplished and what is left to do.
On the national level, after much bickering, compromise, and arcane parliamentary maneuvering, Congress has passed and the President has signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.2 Importantly, this act will increase health care access to 32 million more Americans. It also will eliminate several troublesome practices of private insurers, including denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions (immediately for children and in 2014 for adults) and charging women more than men for the same coverage.