6050 Wk 3 Discussion Post
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Walden University *
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6050
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Political Science
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Feb 20, 2024
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Uploaded by PrivateMosquitoPerson1010
The political history of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), voted into law on March 23, 2010,
is fascinating (Oberlander, 2010)
. Learning the basics helps to understand the motivations of legislators and their votes. The bill was primarily favored by Democrats and independents and received fierce blowback from the Republican party. Most Americans did not understand that 1989 Republicans introduced legislation that would mandate health insurance for everyone (Roy, 2012). Republicans attempted in many different iterations to bring health insurance mandates through the years and initially had some favorability with the idea of the ACA. However, as the bill was being argued, they staunchly opposed the individual mandate and called it unconstitutional (Hawryluk, 2020)
. During the three years leading up to implementation, there was a lack of favorability from the American people. Only 26% were in favor (Zengerle, 2012)
; several Republicans and Tea Party candidates ran their campaign platforms with the significant ticket to repealing ACA. In 2014, the majority of the provisions were in place with many hiccups as people attempted to sign up for healthcare coverage, saw increases in premiums, and the law was still polling unfavorably, and a significant promise of the Trump campaign was the repeal of the act (Alonso-Zaldivar & Junius, 2014)
. However, by 2015, the year of the Trump election, 20-24 more million Americans had health insurance, roughly increasing the number of people insured 50%. Premiums had decreased from the initial rollout in 2014, and Americans found great benefit in the additional laws enacted through ACA (Dutton et al., 2015)
. In 2017 the majority of Americans found the ACA favorable, and politically it became less of an incentive to vote for a candidate in favor of repeal (Sanger-Katz & Park, 2017)
. President Trump enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and repealed the penalty for not having health insurance (Simmons-Duffin, 2019)
. Now in 2023, most Americans favor the ACA, especially if they were lucky enough to live through the Covid-19 pandemic, and repeal is no longer on the agenda of most politicians (
Kff Health Tracking Poll: The Public's Views on the A
CA, 2023).
Due to the amount of time it took to fully implement the law and provisions, roughly four years, and the increasing polarization of politics, highlighted and exacerbated by the Trump Campaign and presidential term and its political folly. It is harder to quantify the political costs to those involved, either for or against. Like most laws, Americans often forget about them once passed and move on to the next agenda item of concern. However, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 elections made many Republicans who had voted for the bill much more vulnerable, according to Hawryluk at KFF (2020). Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado, ran the majority of his senate campaign in 2014 on the repeal of the ACA and was elected and voted as promised, those the repeal ultimately failed. (Hawryluk, 2020) As of 2020, he removed his pro-appeal position from his website and lost his re-election campaign regardless. (Fox, 2020) Similarly, the Congresswoman from Arizona, Martha McSally, voted to end the ACA numerous times and lost her 2018 senate bid, which she partially contributed to those votes. (Hawryluk, 2020) After the ACA passed, but before full implementation, most Democrats did not advertise their support of ACA in re-election bids. However, they
used it as a political attack against opponents in 2018, after the act had become more popular. (Hawryluk, 2020)
Initially, the creation and passing of the ACA was more favorable as a campaign agenda for Republican candidates than those who opposed it. However, after its implementation and the system started to work as planned, it became more favorable for Democrats, which makes the cost-benefit analysis even harder to quantify. Sometimes, legislators must do what they believe to be the best choice for all, even if it is unpopular, and hope that, as Martin Luther King Jr. purports, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." (
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
, n.d.)
Explain how analyses of the voter's views may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies (e.g., Congress' decisions impacting Medicare or Medicaid). Voters' views and opinions are only sometimes fully informed or have the best ability to understand the scope of the law or the broader implications of it, as seen by the polling of the American public in the years leading up to and after the passing of ACA. The ACA was highly controversial, polled unfavorably by most Americans initially and for a few political cycles after it became law. It became a political talking point for the Republican party and one of the major talking points for Trump in his campaign. The politicians who supported and voted for it had to find the strength to continue believing in their convictions that it would ultimately be a positive thing for America. Ultimately, their convictions of the minority were correct, and the ACA has proven to be favorable and helpful, and now more than 25 million Americans have health insurance (Hawryluk, 2020)
. Legislators must balance competing priorities when considering which bills to support or
oppose. However, ultimately, they still need to be reelected at the end of the term. They must choose their battles wisely and may have to forgo their convictions to vote for the people's will. They may have to forgo their re-electability to vote for what they believe is the best decision for all involved. Constituents hope that they find a balance in their work but ultimately vote for the best of everyone involved. It is not an easy job, but it is necessary. Irregularities and inconsistency in polling in the last decade have made it harder for politicians to delineate the will of the people.
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