Politics and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Regardless of political affiliation, individuals often grow concerned when considering perceived competing interests of government and their impact on topics of interest to them. The realm of healthcare is no different. Some people feel that local, state, and federal policies and legislation can be either helped or hindered by interests other than the benefit to society.
Consider for example that the number one job of a legislator is to be reelected. Cost can be measured in votes as well as dollars. Thus, it is important to consider the legislator’s perspective on either promoting or not promoting a certain initiative in the political landscape.
To Prepare:
Review the Resources and reflect on efforts to repeal/replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Consider who benefits the most when policy is developed and in the context of policy implementation.
Discussion
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The first efforts to replace or repeal the Affordable Care Act was made by the house of Representatives through the passing of the American Health Care Act. The bill aimed to act as an alternative so that states can opt-out of the Affordable Care Act. In January 2017, a vote was conducted to pass a budget resolution that would repeal the Affordable Care Act. The process was to be done through budget reconciliation. Since the passing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the congress had been divided. This resulted in some congress members pushing for strategies to repeal or replace the law. Lawmakers claimed that certain portions of the law needed to be amended. In 2011, three democrats and all the Republicans voted to repeal the law. However, the Democrats suggested that the repeal should not take place until most of the senators quit the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. This suggestion was voted down by the republicans. The 2012 repeal attempt marked the 33rd attempt since the law was passed. In 2017, President Donald Trump signed an order that could seize the repeal process and instead replace Obamacare with the American Care Act. However, replacing the Affordable Healthcare Act has not been successful. The Affordable Care Act was designed to help Americans access affordable medical care (Milstead & Short, 2019).
The people who benefit the most whenever a new policy is implemented are those who were in favor of policy development. The policy outcome is the overall impact that the policy has on the problem that it aimed to solve. If solving the problem was in the best interest of the masses, then they would benefit from the policy i...