Learn about the affordable care act by reviewing the definition in the healthcaregov glossary skip navigation menu the comprehensive health care reform law enacted in march 2010 sometimes known as aca ppaca or obamacare the law has 3 primary goals make affordable health insurance available to more people. The patient protection and affordable care act ppaca often shortened to the affordable care act aca or nicknamed obamacare is a united states federal statute enacted by the 111th united states congress and signed into law by president barack obama on march 23 2010 together with the health care and education reconciliation act of 2010 amendment it represents the us healthcare system . Public law 111 148 mar 23 2010 124 stat 119 public law 111 148 111th congress an act entitled the patient protection and affordable care act be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled section 1 short title table of contents. Updated june 18 2014 health care transformation the affordable care act and more health care costs have been rising quality of care issues must be addressed and equity of healthcare access needs to be improvedfor these reasons though there is disagreement about some aspects of reform most americans agree that healthcare delivery systems in the united states require. Patient protection and affordable care act pl 111 148 overall approach to expanding access to coverage require most us citizens and legal residents to have health insurance