Politics and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Assignment Paper
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been of great help to most American populations, particularly the vulnerable populations that cannot meet the demands of private healthcare insurance. As a result, since its passage, most Americans would find it easy to access healthcare services at a minimal cost (Sage & Westmoreland, 2020). However, when the debate started on repealing and replacing ACA, the whole process became disastrous since it would also repeal the benefits the American population got from the Act. Politics and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Assignment Paper
For instance, after the President Trump administration took over office from President Obama’s administration, they tried to repeal and replace Obamacare, which was at that time benefiting about 24 million Americans who would lose their healthcare insurance coverage if the proposed changes happened (Gusmano et al., 2020). That means that the proposed change would go against the initial aim of ACA of ensuring that the American population can easily access healthcare services at an affordable rate. Such a scenario is when the legislators have to assess the cost-benefit analysis of a proposed law and evaluate its effect on them and the overall population (Sage & Westmoreland, 2020). That is because most of these legislators are elected into office. Thus, they understand the consequences of passing laws that affect the ordinary citizens they will rely on during the election period.
Such considerations explain why the legislators, especially the Senate, rejected the American Health Care Act (AHCA) recommendations since most of them would not be elected back into office by passing it (Gusmano et al., 2020). Conclusively, the election and reelection of legislators highly depend on how they protect and fight for the citizens’ rights during the policymaking process. Hence, in as much as every administration wants to come up with policies on healthcare delivery and services, there are some policies, such as Obamacare, that cannot be easily repealed and replaced, thus ensuring that the administration learns how to continue supporting such policies to maintain their trust with the public. Politics and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Assignment Paper
References
Gusmano, M. K., Sparer, M. S., & Brown, L. D. (2020). Trump v. The ACA. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 16(3), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1744133120000389
Mahboub, O. (2021). Adoption versus Replacement: “Obamacare” at Crossroads. ALTRALANG Journal, 3(03), 83–106. https://doi.org/10.52919/altralang.v3i03.138
Sage, W. M., & Westmoreland, T. M. (2020). Following the Money:The ACA’s Fiscal-Political Economy and Lessons for Future Health Care Reform. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 48(3), 434–442. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110520958866 Politics and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Assignment Paper
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 3
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by expanding on their explanation and providing an example that supports their explanation or respectfully challenging their explanation and providing an example.
The repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) depends on the beliefs of the Legislators who are involved in the decision making within the Legislative branch of the United States government. If the same Legislators are elected and re-elected, the same political pursuits will take place. Republican legislators being re-elected is the key power move by the Republican party in repealing the ACA. As long as Republican legislators are elected and re-elected, the pursuit in reversing efforts made by past Democratic Presidents, including Barack Obama, involving the ACA will continue to occur. Currently, the Speaker of the House is Republican Kevin McCarthy. Congressman McCarthy’s job and what defines his success is how well he pushes the Republican agenda. Whichever political party has the majority within the House and Representatives and the Senate is the one that will have the most political power regarding decisions to repeal and replace the ACA. If Democratic legislators keep the majority within the two groups of congressmen, then the likelihood of the ACA being repealed drops tremendously. Politics and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Assignment Paper
The political views of the voters who placed our legislators in office will affect how these legislators conduct and execute national policies. In order to have a higher chance of being re-elected, Legislators will make decisions that are favorable to the groups of people who elected them into office. Democratic Legislators will seek every opportunity to maintain the favored policies that were introduced by previous Democratic representative and Presidents’, such as Obamacare, in order to keep the favor of the democratic voters who elected them into office. Politics and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Assignment Paper