President Obama has made hundreds of campaign promises. Obama's health care mandate was among his most powerful and important. Several weeks after taking office, he moved to make good on his health care pledge. He wanted the new bill to reflect his eight principles: ensuring choice, making health coverage accessible, protecting the financial health of families, investing in prevention and well-being, providing portable coverage, aiming for universality, improving safety of patients and the quality of care and maintain long-term fiscal sustainability (8 Simple Rules, 2009). President Obama used all the traditional tools to accomplish a very difficult piece of legislation. The healthcare reform law, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), was enacted in March 2010 (Frontline, 2010). The PPACA and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 are commonly known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Together, these acts are designed to reform health care in America (Day, 2010). The PPACA is a large and complex law with some effects already implemented and others to be phased in over the next seven years. Starting in 2010, according to the American Nurses Association (ANA), the PPACA states that young adults will be able to remain on their parents' insurance until their 26th birthday and insurers will be prevented from imposing exclusions on children with pre-existing conditions; lifetime limits on benefits and restrictive annual limits will be prohibited; new plans issued after 2009 must provide coverage of preventive services without copayments; high-risk pools will cover uninsured adults with pre-existing health conditions until the health coverage exchanges are operational; seniors will receive a $250 rebate to help fill the "donut hole" in Medicare prescription drugs c...... middle of document ...... Retrieved September 15, 2011, from http:// www.wid.org8 simple rules for health system reform: a new sounding board [Editorial]. (2009, May 4). Retrieved September 16, 2011, from http://www.ama-assn.orgFrontline. (2010, April 13). The Obama deal [video file]. Retrieved from http://video.pbs.org Institute of Medicine. (2011). The future of nursing: Driving change, advancing health. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from http://www.rwjf.orgMiller, A. (March 22, 2010). Frequently asked questions: how healthcare reform will affect you. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from http://www.webmd.comThomson Reuters. (2010, March 19). US healthcare bill would provide immediate benefits [Factbox]. Retrieved September 16, 2011, from http://www.reuters.comU.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Timeline: what will change and when. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from http://www.healthcare.gov