If passed, this single payer health insurance program will go into effect over an 18 month period. It's goal? To eliminate insurance premiums (about $8,000 to $12,000 per family annually), "un-affordable deductibles" (as much as $7,000 per family), and any out of pocket expenses like co-pays.

In the United States, The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a health care ordinance established by the federal government (it is commonly referred to as Obamacare). The Act was adopted as a law by US President Barrack Obama on March 23, 2010.

The goal of this law is to reform the United States health systems by providing and improving access to quality and affordable health care, health insurance, and providing American citizens with more rights and protections by reducing health care expenditure for both individuals and the government.

 

On February 3, 2015, many physicians received a surprising email from Richard Baron, MD, MACP, president and chief executive officer of theAmerican Board of Internal Medicine(ABIM). Referring to the board’s controversial maintenance of certification (MOC) program, Baron wrote, “ABIM clearly got it wrong.

Two recent studies in theJournal of the American Medical Associationare sparking fresh controversy over the effectiveness of, and need for, themaintenance of certification(MOC) requirements mandated by the American Board of Internal Medcine (ABIM.)

The studies inJAMA’s December 10 issue both look at MOC’s impact on the costs and quality of patient care, although in different ways. Thefirst study, led by ABIM’s Bradley Gray, Ph.D., compared costs and outcomes for two groups of Medicare beneficiaries during the years 1999-2005: one group treated by internists who received board certification in 1991, and were thus required to recertify in 2001, and a second group treated by internists who certified in 1989, and were thus grandfathered out of ABIM’s recertification requirements.