The individual mandate and the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare," is based on the idea that citizens should be required to have health insurance or pay a certain penalty. . The Affordable Care Act is essentially intended to make it easier for all Americans to be able to afford health insurance. “One of the goals of the ACA, often called the Affordable Care Act…is to reduce the costs of health care and make it accessible to more people.” (Will the Affordable Care Act improve health care in the United States?). The ACA was signed into law in March 2010 and is currently underway. Although the Affordable Care Act potentially has some positive effects, such as providing affordable health insurance to uninsured Americans; The law also contains "Section 1342 of the ACA makes taxpayers responsible for bailing out insurance companies if the need arises." » (MacKenzie, Tragic Problems with the (Un)Affordable Care Act). Although taxpayers are legally required to fund federal programs like the ACA, many believe this is not fiscally responsible. “Economist Laurence Kotlikoff estimates that average tax rates would need to increase by 56% to cover projected increases in federal spending.” (MacKenzie, Tragic Problems with the (Un)Affordable Care Act). As a result, American taxpayers will never be able to fund the increases planned in this federal program, making national bankruptcy even more likely. Senator Scott Brown, Republican of Massachusetts, said: “States should not be forced by the federal government to adopt a single health care plan; “Every state’s health care needs are different.” Senator Brown has a very good point: the ACA health care program does not meet the differentiated needs of different states, and each state has different factors that go into the role of its health care programs. Thomas Miller, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, also has opposing views on the relationship between the Affordable Care Act and state health programs. “Miller asserts that the ACA will undermine the development of free market dynamics in health insurance and force states to adhere to federal dictates. As a first step, he says, states might be able to shape their own insurance exchanges through which people buy health coverage. But that's simply because Washington made certain "concessions" to states to get them to support the law, he says. Once the new health plan becomes deeply entrenched, he predicts, "the long-term dynamics will be largely under the control of Washington rather than having open markets." » (Clemmitt, Assessing the New Health Care