William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

610 Chapter 16Chapter 16 || Social PolicySocial Policy

The experiences with social-policy reform also illustrate the themes of this book.

First, health care reform is a perfect example of the conflictual nature of politics. From

initial debates over health coverage for illegal immigrants and abortion to repeated

efforts to repeal the ACA in the House, health care reform ignited many contentious

debates. Substantive disagreements about the scope of coverage and how to pay for

it also revealed deep fault lines across and within the parties. Despite this conflict,

congressional leaders pieced together compromises that created an imperfect but

historic law. However, conflict over social policy is far from resolved as Republicans

in Congress work to change Obamacare. The reform of Social Security and Medicare

provides fertile ground for intergenerational struggle and class conflict. Clearly,

resolving the long-term problems facing social policy in the United States will involve

many intense debates.

Social policy, especially the recent legislative struggles over health care reform,

demonstrates that political process matters. The filibuster in the Senate played an

important role in the first stages of shaping health care reform, and the decision to

use the reconciliation process late in the game ensured passage of the law. House

Republicans’ decision to shut down the government in an effort to repeal the law

ended up backfiring, but it is yet another example of how the political process can be

used in ways that have substantive impacts: the shutdown cost billions of dollars and

slowed economic growth. Politicians’ decisions have a key impact on policy outcomes,

and the timing and politics of the policy-making process clearly drive the results. Had

congressional leaders made different decisions, it is possible that health care reform

would have failed. Finally, politics is everywhere. Social policies touch all Americans at

some point in their lives, and the struggles over reforming these policies are at the core

of contemporary American politics.

What’s

Your

Take?

Has Obamacare been

“essentially repealed”?

Are Social Security and

Medicare going bankrupt?

Should these social

programs be strengthened

or repealed?

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