The core policy goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—on which there is near universal consensus—are threefold: expand health care coverage; increase the quality of medical outcomes, and reduce costs. (The consensus quickly breaks down, however, when it come to the means whereby these goals might be achieved.) The first of these goals (the expansion of coverage) raises concerns about the affordability of coverage for low-income individuals. 

Affordability is germane to several of the Act’s provisions- for an in-depth analysis written by my colleague, Alden Bianchi, click here.