Many students have asked me for an explanation of how the health care system works. When we are done with that, we’ll review Consciousness and the Meaning of Life. That’s a big question. So, let’s take it in pieces.
First let’s look at Medicare. This is a government sponsored program that provides health care funding to older people and those on dialysis or disabled.
Next let’s look at the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or sometimes known as ACA or “Obamacare”). I can’t beat this professionally created video by the Kaiser Foundation.
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my peripheral brain 
Excellent discussion on a very complex issue.. one can see how the system as currently exits is not only near insolvency but also incredibly confusing for healthcare providers and patients. The Affordable Care Act will bring substantial changes to the system but it is difficult to predict how this will affect healthcare spending in reality. As emergency physicians we are likely to see continued increases in ED visits as one of the key issues in our healthcare system remains the paucity and lack of access to primary care physicians. One thing seems certain.. 2014 should be interesting!