The Affordable Care Act is a health care reform that went in law in 2010. It’s officially called The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but you’ll probably see it referred to as the ACA, PPACA, or Obamacare.

The primary goals of the Affordable Care Act were to make health insurance more affordable, to institute consumer protections, and to increase the number of people covered by health insurance.

One significant product of the ACA was a health insurance marketplace (also called an exchange) run by the federal government. The federal marketplace, healthcare.gov, is a website where Americans can go to shop for, compare, and then buy individual insurance plans. Plans are available to anyone who isn’t on a group plan, including unemployed and self-employed individuals.