[For information purposes only; not intended to be legal advice]
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the Affordable Care Act or "ACA"), Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010), was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
Commonly referred to as "Obamacare," it is generally considered the most significant statutory reform of the United States health care system in several decades [see, Wilson Huhn, J.D., "constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Under the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause," 32 J. Legal Med. 139, 140 (2011)].
The law's fundamental purpose is "to increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance and decrease the cost of health care" [National Federation of Independent Businessmen v. Sebelious, 132 S. Ct. 2566, 2580 (2012)].
The law has withstood all legal challenges, including confirmation by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
Some key points:
- The ACA changes the health insurance environment in Maryland because it requires all citizens to purchase or acquire health insurance.
- Because it requires health insurance, the ACA makes it easier to calculate a personal injury victim's award of future damages for medical expenses.
- In the wake of ACA, it is possible in my view that Maryland may avail itself of the opportunity to revisit the computation of future damages in medical malpractice cases.
- It is possible at some point, but I doubt soon, that the Collateral Source Rule ("CSR") --- which essentially every state has a version of, including Maryland --- may be revisited. Essentially, the "CSR" prohibits an injured plaintiff's recovery of damages for reasonable medical expenses from being reduced by payments or benefits simply because coverage for the injury was provided by some collateral source - i.e., insurance coverage.
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