chAPTER ThiRTEEn • DomEsTic AnD Economic Policy 303
conservative state governments exercised their option to refuse expansion. As a result,
several million low-income persons—many of them in southern states—were not covered
when Obamacare was fully implemented in 2014. Many state governments also refused
to participate in setting up health-insurance exchanges. The federal government, however,
had the power to set up the exchanges in states where local officials refused to participate.health care: Policy Evaluation
After a policy has been implemented, it is evaluated. When a policy has been in place for a
given period of time, groups inside and outside the government conduct studies to deter-
mine how the program has actually worked. Based on this feedback and the perceived
success or failure of the policy, a new round of policymaking initiatives may be undertaken
to improve on the effort.
During 2013, many observers were concerned that the final rollout of the health-care
reforms in 2014 would be chaotic. This was only a prediction, however. Of necessity, the
reforms received very little real evaluation until they were fully in place.immigRATion
In recent years, immigration rates in the United States have been among the highest since
their peak in the early twentieth century. Every year, more than 1 million people immigrate
to this country legally, a figure that does not include the large number of unauthorized
immigrants. Those who were born on foreign soil now constitute about 13 percent of the
U.S. population—more than twice the percentage of thirty years ago.
Since 1977, four out of five immigrants have come from Latin America or Asia.
Hispanics have overtaken African
Americans as the nation’s larg-
est minority. As you learned in
Chapter 5, if current immigration
rates continue, by 2050 minority
groups collectively will constitute
the majority of Americans. If such
groups were to form coalitions,
they could increase their politi-
cal power dramatically. The “old
guard” white majority would
no longer dominate American
politics.The issue of
unauthorized
immigration
Illegal immigration—or unau-
thorized immigration, to use the
terminology of the Department
of Homeland Security—has been
a major national issue for many
years. Latin Americans, especiallyA member of Nuns on the Bus speaks at the end of the group’s cross country trip
to defend unauthorized immigrants. Why might some Catholics have a supportive attitude
toward immigrants? (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).LO2: Explain why illegal
immigration is seen as a problem,
and cite some of the steps that
have been taken in response to it.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.