Abstract
The history of medicine and public health illustrates a recurrent theme: To develop solutions for myriad health problems, scientists must innovate. And the testing of a new product or strategy reminds us that to innovate is to experiment. This maxim forms the core of all medical research, public health interventions, and health policy innovations (1). In October 2013, the United States began the major national implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) (2)—the most substantial U.S. health care policy innovation since the initiation of Medicare (in 1966) and thus the nation’s largest-ever health care experiment. Here, we discuss the ACA’s role as translational research in order to promote a wider understanding of the role of experimentation in improving health at the public policy level.