HAMPTON Monday marks five years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, was signed into law.

The legislation has provided low-cost medical coverage to thousands of Virginians, and millions of Americans. It's meant to lower the cost of health care, while increasing the number of people covered by insurance.

Gaylene Kanoyton, president of the Hampton-based Celebrate Healthcare advocacy group, held a party Sunday at Peninsula Soul Food Restaurant, which opened Friday at the former Captain George's Seafood location on Mercury Boulevard, to acknowledge the anniversary and one of the act's "champions" Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News.

"Health care is a right, it's not a privilege," Kanoyton said.

Her organization held 35 events last year, and 25 this year to help people enroll in the government-subsidized health care program, she said. Almost 385,000 Virginians, and 11.7 million people nationwide, enrolled in private health insurance through the act's marketplace, healthcare.gov.

"It is important to remind ourselves of what was going on when we were considering the legislation," Scott said. "Before, the cost of health care were going through the roof. The federal budget was out of whack primarily because of health care expenses. ... Women were paying more for insurance than men. If you had a pre-existing condition, if you could get insurance at all, you were paying a lot more than everyone else."

Plus policy holders had to pay a little bit more to cover those who got medical care but can't afford to pay for it.

Then came the Affordable Care Act, he said.

"It's affordable," Scott said. "Everybody pays the same price. Women don't pay more than men. People with pre-existing conditions don't pay more."

He said the 10-year projected cost of Medicare and Medicaid plus the cost of the act's implementation and its tax credits is lower than the projected cost of Medicare and Medicaid alone during the same period prior to the passage of the ACA.

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Hampton Roads officials celebrate five years of health care legislation