How delays have altered the ACA timeline (in one chart)

Most of the changes to the ACA were made through federal regulations. For instance, the Treasury Department has twice announced delays for the ACA's employer mandate, and CMS has delayed the opening of the small business exchanges.

(It's worth noting that the federal government has made several smaller changes that we did not include in this timeline. For example, the Obama administration recently decided to keep a special insurance program for individuals with pre-existing conditions open for an additional month—until the end of April.)

Meanwhile, there's one major change to the law that didn't come from the executive branch: Allowing states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion.

Instead, this change took effect thanks to the Supreme Court's June 2012 ruling on the ACA. As a result, half of the U.S. states have not expanded their Medicaid programs this year, as was originally called for in the law.

Share this graphic with your colleagues now.

• Which states have opted out of the Medicaid expansion?
  
  At the start of 2014, 25 states had not yet expanded their Medicaid programs using ACA funding.
  
  Find out the latest expansion news in your state with our interactive Medicaid Map.

Are you ready for the ACA?

The ACA means more insured patients with coverage for a wide range of services. For hospitals to take advantage of this, they’ll need to streamline their patient access processes to handle the increased complexities of insurance verification and eligibility, point-of-service collections, and coverage enrollment.

Watch the video to learn how to address these unique challenges.