This Thursday, September 23rd, a number of the measures included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--the health care bill signed into law by President Obama six months ago--will go into effect. These measures, a large portion of which were designed to protect consumers from insurance companies, will be felt by Americans struggling to afford health care, and may provide an important boost to Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.

According to the New York Times, "polls have found that many of the provisions taking effect Thursday are popular." Those provisions include making it illegal for insurance companies to exclude children with pre-existing conditions from health plans, denying insurance companies the right to drop patients after finding technical errors on applications, and other consumer protections.

According to the same polls, President Obama has gained favor with many Americans by putting restrictions on what insurance companies can and cannot do. In America today there is "a national sense of fairness and...distrust of health insurers."

Since Republicans and Democrats are still arguing over the law--with some Republicans even promising an effort to repeal it--the health care law may become a big issue again when midterm elections roll around. Just how much Americans agree with the President on the issue may be put to the test this November.