An important book for anyone concerned about the skyrocketing costs of health care in the United States, the work accomplishes three main tasks intended to help readers better understand one of the most important policy challenges of our time. The early chapters explain why congressional Democrats designed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 as they did, clarifies some of the consequences of the act's features, and examines why Republicans have fought the implementation of the law so fiercely. The study then looks at how the intersection of economics and politics applies to the ACA. Finally, the book details what the public knows-and doesn't know-about the law and discusses the prospects for citizens gaining the knowledge they should have about the overall issue of health-policy reform.