Although the "affordability" of healthcare is a common concern, the term is rarely defined. Fundamentally, affordability is a function of income, spending, and judgements about the value of goods and services for their price. It reviews a range of measures that capture the cost burden for individuals and families with different forms of coverage, financial circumstances, and health concerns.

By any measure, many Americans are experiencing are experiencing significant issues due to the costs of healthcare. This is due to the high deductibles that discourage them from seeking healthcare,gaps in insurance benefits, or the less noticed erosion of wages due to rising health insurance premiums. The key issues to keep in mind are:

• The cost of care vs. cost of insurance
• How to fairly distribute costs
• Consumer's most salient affordability concerns
• The root causes of financial barriers to care
• The differential impact of various policies on stakeholders

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to give families and individuals greater access to affordable health insurance options like vision,dental,medical and other types of health insurance that they may not have been able to get on their own or through an employer. Under the ACA:

• You may be able to purchase healthcare through the state or federal marketplace with a choice of different plans
• Insurers cannot refuse coverage based on a pre-existing condition, or gender.
• Lifetime and annual limits on coverage are removed
• Young adults can stay on their family's insurance plan until age 26.
• Seniors who hit the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan coverage gap can get a discount on medications

This law has 3 primary goals

• Make affordable health insurance more accessible and available to people. The law provides consumers with subsidies ("premium tax credits") that lower costs for households with incomes between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level
• Expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults with income below 138% of the federal poverty level.
• Support innovative medical care delivery methods designated to lower the cost of health care generally.