Despite heavy opposition, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—better known as Obamacare—is an overwhelmingly positive step forward for the United States. The main objectives of the act are to improve the quality and affordability of health insurance and to reduce the percentage of uninsured Americans. While Obamacare has its blemishes, they are largely outweighed by its many advantages.

One of the predominant arguments against Obamacare is that it will cause an increase in taxes. While this is true, the increase will not be felt by most Americans, as the bill simply imposes a “3.8 percent ‘Medicare tax’ that would target high income earners…” according to the United States Chamber of Commerce. This is a small increase that impacts a small fragment of the population.

Another aspect of Obamacare that has many Americans up in arms is that the bill requires Americans to have insurance by January 1, 2014. Many feel that forcing people to buy insurance is immoral and unconstitutional; however, it is far from either. According to Yale Constitutional Law Professor Jack Balkin, Congress was within its rights in passing this legislation.

“The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax and spend money for the general welfare,” Balkin said.

Furthermore, not everyone is forced to get health insurance. If the cheapest available plan is over eight percent of a person’s annual income, he is exempt from the law.

Some Obamacare disparagers even go as far as to say that anyone in support of the bill is a socialist, which is a truly erroneous claim. The term—which unfairly has many post-Cold War stigmas still attached to it—does not at all apply to the Affordable Care Act. The act simply builds upon the private health care system that already exists in the United States.

Finally, the seemingly large cost of the bill has caused many Americans to oppose it from the beginning. In reality, however, Obamacare has the potential to save the nation an enormous amount of money. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the legislation “would produce a net reduction in federal deficits of 143 billion dollars over the 2010–2019 period as result of changes in direct spending and revenues.”

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a socially and economically beneficial way to handle a portion of the nation’s health care problems. In spite of its unpopularity, when the bare facts are analyzed—and all bias put aside—the advantage of this legislation is clear.