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A look back at health reform – and a call for a better name

In case you missed it, NPR aired a nice summary yesterday of health reform in 2010: how it came to be, how it "roiled the nation's politics," how we're likely to hear a lot more about it in 2011. It's worth a listen.

And for a lighter take on health reform, check out this recent Shots entry from NPR's Scott Hensley, who outlines what he calls a big failing of the new law:

...We think both sides can probably agree on a central unsolved problem of the law: what to call it. Even the wonkiest among us rarely refer to the law by its given name: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

PPACA, you say? Or as Kaiser Health News' Marilyn Serafini asks in the Washington Post, "Puh-pack-uh? Is that some kind of llama?"

The government's website on overhaul has dropped the "patient protection" part and generally refers to the law as the Affordable Care Act. ACA, anyone? Sounds a little like the guy with a cold next to me on the Metro this morning.

Hensley goes on to encourage readers to suggest better alternatives in the blog's comment section.

Previously: Happy (half) birthday, health reform law and How health reform happened

From December 20 to January 3, Scope will be on a limited holiday publishing schedule. During that time, you may also notice a delay in comment moderation. We will return to our regular schedule on January 3.

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