The Affordable Care Act will need to weather the storm one more time in Congress before it faces new challenges this year.
Here are four things to know about the year ahead for the ACA.
1. The U.S. House of Representatives plan to send a repeal of the ACA to President Barack Obama's desk as its first order of business after the holiday break, according to The New York Times. The measure has already been approved in the Senate and includes a repeal of the ACA and funding cuts to Planned Parenthood. However, President Obama is certain to veto the measure. The success of the repeal vote will merely be symbolic of what could be achieved with a Republican in the White House.
2. Following that battle, the ACA must turn to enrollment. Though the law has been successful in gaining 16 million people health coverage so far, according to CDC data cited by The Hill, and the uninsured rate is at a record low of 9 percent, it will be increasingly difficult to target the remaining holdouts. Though the Obama administration is denying that the law has hit a plateau, HHS Assistant Secretary Richard Frank told The Hill "we are seeing a much longer path" to getting the remaining uninsured coverage.
3. Now that Americans have health coverage, they have to be able to afford it. High deductibles associated with the most popular plans on the federal exchange are more than twice the average employer sponsored plan, according to The Hill, and while subsidies can significantly help those with lower incomes, many are still worried about the middle class. Premiums are also rising to adjust for the sicker newly insured population, according to the report. However, the report notes, they are 15 percent lower than expected in the first year of the ACA.
4. The ACA will need to continue to find avenues to cut down wasteful healthcare spending. Congress delayed the onset of several ACA taxes last year, but other ACA-related projects are continuing to work to cut costs, such as accountable care organizations, according to the report.
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