Chapter 16Chapter 16 || Social PolicySocial Policy16
President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(“Obamacare”) into law on March 30, 2010. This comprehensive and historic health care
reform legislation was the culmination of a 15-month partisan struggle in Congress.
The $1 trillion law (over 10 years) provides subsidized health insurance to most
Americans who don’t have insurance, while preventing health insurance companies
from dropping sick policy holders or refusing to cover people with preexisting
conditions.
Health care reform was controversial from the start. As public opposition grew, it
became clear that the votes for health care reform would have to come from within the
Democratic Party. Indeed, the final version of the bill passed without any Republican
support. Republicans cried foul because Democratic leaders used the reconciliation
process in an unorthodox way to avoid a filibuster in the Senate (the process is typically
used for budget-related issues, not for passing substantive policy).
The day after the law went into effect, House Republicans introduced a bill to repeal
it. After regaining control of the House in the 2010 midterms, House Republicans
voted 62 times over the next six years to repeal or change part of Obamacare,
including 6 times to repeal the entire law.^1 Of course, Senate Democrats were having
none of it and ignored the House’s efforts. These conflicting views came to a head
in the fall of 2013 when House Republicans tied approval of the annual budget to
repealing Obamacare. Democrats viewed this as blackmail and refused to negotiate,
while Republicans argued that the public was on their side as polls showed that mostSocial policies can be complicated,
conflictual, and personal, though
few issues have been as contentious
as health care reform. The political
process used to tackle these conflicts
is often tedious, complex, and
time-consuming.“ We essentially repealed Obamacare because we got rid of the individual
mandate... and that was a primary source of funding of Obamacare.”
President Donald Trump“ Overall, this change will be disruptive, but not terminal. It certainly does
not ‘essentially repeal’ Obamacare. We rate Trump’s claim False.”
PolitiFactSocial Policy
What should be the role of
the government in providing
the social safety net?
572Full_17_APT_64431_ch16_572-613.indd 572 16/11/18 11:27 AM