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1. In 2009, there were 50.7 million uninsured Americans.
2. Countries like Australia, France, the UK, Canada, and Mexico all insure more of their population than the U.S., so we decided it was time catch up.
3. After much debate and hundreds of bipartisan negotiations and changes to the bill, both the Senate and the House passed the Affordable Care Act into a law now referred to as Obamacare.
4. Certain parts of the law went into effect right away and are already working, like being able to stay on your parents insurance until 26.
5. The rest of the law goes into effect January 2014, and will make insurance easier to get with more options and at a cheaper cost.
6. Despite the benefits, many Republicans didn’t like the law.
7. They came up with lots of arguments for why they didn't want to pass the president's healthcare law, saying Obamacare would be too expensive, lead to lost jobs, and hurt small businesses.
8. Lawmakers countered those arguments with reports illustrating exactly the opposite.
9. The public watched in confusion as the GOP tried to repeal Obamacare anyway, voting 42 times unsuccessfully.
10. Even the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional and the law would be upheld.
11. Desperate, some members of the GOP decide to get their way by forcing a shutdown of the government and near catastrophic default on US debt.
12. That didn't work since Obamacare was already law, so the GOP finally agreed to reopen the government.
13. In the first week alone, healthcare.gov received 8.6 million unique visitors.
14. The high influx of traffic actually broke the site, which is pretty embarassing for the Obama administration, though it proves that people are excited about enrolling.
15. These people were excited for coverage because it meant they would no longer be denied coverage due to a pre-existing conditon.
16. Or charged more because they are a woman.
17. They'll get free birth control,
18. And preventative care,
19. And affordable coverage and lots of options, because hey, accidents happen.
20. Health care isn't something most young people realize they need, and whether they will purchase insurance has been a big topic of discussion among pundits and politicians. Early reports, though, show that young people are participating in the exchanges.
21. At the end of the day, 6.6 million young people who would have otherwise been unisured are already on their parent's plan, and starting January 1, 2014, another 12.1 million uninsured young people can finally be covered thanks to low cost health care.
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