The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a central topic in the provided podcast episodes, which discuss its impact on increasing accessibility and coverage for certain medical technologies, such as intrauterine devices (IUDs).

In the first episode, 'TBD | Why Are IUDs Still a Mystery?', the Affordable Care Act is mentioned as a factor that has contributed to the recent popularity of IUDs by making them more accessible and affordable for many people.

The second episode, 'Purity Is Poisoning the Progressive Movement', uses the Affordable Care Act as an example to illustrate how insisting on a pure or ideal solution can sometimes prevent progress from being made, even if an incremental improvement is achieved.

The third episode, 'ACA insurance sees record sign-ups', focuses specifically on the record-high enrollment numbers for health insurance plans through the ACA marketplaces, analyzing the contributing factors behind this surge.