Politics Power & Health Policy

Opinion

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which informally became known as “Obamacare”. Obamacare was designed primarily to protect the benefits of those that hold insurance policies and to close the gap between those with insurance and those without by extending health coverage to more US citizens than ever before.

The ACA is without a doubt the most comprehensive health policy reform since Medicare. The fact that act has proven to have afforded millions of Americans the opportunity to get health care coverage, has not shielded it from undergoing numerous attempts to upend its progress. The efforts of the current Trump Administration to first repeal and later repeal and replace Obamacare have put health reform on a highly politicized stage. Executive orders to limit the act and court filings and cases to strike the law down entirely appear to have been retaliation for perceived wrong doing of political opponents.

Now that we know the impact of some of the provision within the ACA, I am of the mind that congress should have or develop the capacity to work together to systematically revamp those areas that need to be revised while maintaining the integrity of the bill. Loss of coverage for millions is not an option to settle a score. The time wasted with name calling and tweeting could be better spent working out solutions and developing policy real options. Leadership should prevail.

There are various reasons that help validate the continued necessity of the ACA. If the 20 million that gained coverage, the new grant program for school-based health centers, the focus on prevention over treatment, cost savings, or the protections afforded to those with Opinion pre-existing conditions are not enough to get congress to act in order to stop this targeted repeal and replace effort launched in 2016, the nation will begin to experience even worse health outcomes and greater disease burden. The US health system one of the most highly priced and least effective healthcare systems.

Health care reform was once again in the spotlight when earlier this year the Democrats took back control over the House of Representatives using a health care reform platform. The democratic party gained some footing but doing so put the issue at the forefront of the 2020 elections and gave the rise to opposition. The Trump Administration recently countered when the Justice Department issued a filing to an appeals court in support of the Texas and Louisiana judges who recently ruled that Obamacare was invalid and should be overturned. Although neither the judge’s rulings nor the filing by the DOJ has an effect or changes the act, it clearly shows the extent to which health reform is politically charged.

In recent history there has been no other health reform debate or effort that appears to be purely politically motivated. Health reform should not be driven by the desire to penalize or punish political adversaries. Those in power should be able to put the health of the nation above political ambitions or personal gains.

Often times health policy might seem like a concept that only pertains to politicians, insurance companies or those conducting research but in fact we are all directly impacted by changes in health policy and health care reform issues. At some point in all of our lives we will consume health care services and participate in the United States health care delivery system. It might be interesting to know or participate not only in what shapes those interactions with the healthcare delivery system but current health policy and reform debate. Where do you stand? Repeal, replace or something else?.