NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Sample Answer for NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Included After Question
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources and reflect on efforts to repeal/replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
- Consider who benefits the most when policy is developed and in the context of policy implementation.
By Day 3 of Week 3
Post an explanation for how you think the cost-benefit analysis in terms of legislators being reelected affected efforts to repeal/replace the ACA. Then, explain how analyses of the votes views may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies (e.g., Congress’ decisions impacting Medicare or Medicaid). Remember, the number one job of a legislator is to be re-elected. Please check your discussion grading rubric to ensure your responses meet the criteria.
You made great points regarding this topic. Although I am republican, I agree that the ACA was very democratic lead legislation, being passed with no republican votes (Walden University LLC, 2018). When I first read that, I was shocked, but after much research, I realized that this was due to republicans wanting votes and popularity. You mentioned if a legislator is aligned with the Republicans, it may be in their best interest to oppose the ACA or look to revise it. You are 100% right about that. If they want votes, the best scenario, in this case, would be to adjust instead of repeal.
Despite the apparent development, there is way more work to do. While trying to overturn ACA, Republicans have failed to provide programs that match the broad way of the ACA and ensure that Americans have access to quality healthcare. As republicans go with their attempts to repeal the ACA, they do not just threaten this substantial development made under this law; but also threaten to get billions of Americans worse off than before (Erb,2017). The ACA makes healthcare more affordable for people, homes, and business owners. If republicans or even democrats want votes, they must be on board with the ACA and figure out a way to make it work for their party.
By Day 6 of Week 3
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by expanding on their explanation and providing an example that supports their explanation or respectfully challenging their explanation and providing an example.
Click on the Reply button below to reveal the textbox for entering your message. Then click on the Submit button to post your message.
*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Title: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The decisions made at the government level affects everyone of us. It is smart to be educated on the health care policies that are being voted on by are representitives. As a Health Care Worker it is imperitive to be knowledgeable about policies that are being passed into law. President Bush did healthcare reform with Medicare prescription drug bill. President Obama passed the American Care Act for health reform. President Trump pushed for repealing the Affordable Care Act.
“The ACA supports low-and modearte-income people by ensuring access to more reliable and more affordable health inurance than in the past. (Hanlon, Vinelli, and Weller 2020).” ACA made health insurance more achievable for low- and moderate-income. It also did not matter if you had a pre-exisiting condition. People who could not obtain insurance befoe now were eligible for insurance under the ACA. “An appeal would make insurance much less affordable or even put it completely out of reach for large segment of the population, including people with preexisiting conditions (Hanlor, vinelli, and weller 2020)”.
President Trump wanted to repeal ACA citing that insurance premiums were too high and this would cause individuals to not participate in healthcare. “The Trump adminisstration argues that reducing regulations and encouraging free-market principles will increase consumer choice and lower premium costs (Willison and Singer 2017).” The impact of the repeal of ACA across the country , “29.8 million people would lose their health insurance if the ACA were replaced-more than doubling the numberof people with out health insurance, and 1.2 million jobs would be lost, not just in health care but across the board (epi.org)”. I feel that healthcare professionals need to be up to date and aware of Health Care Policies.
https://www.americanprogress.org>new>2020/09/29. Repealing ACA would put Millions at risk while giving Big Tax Cuts to the very Wealthy. Seth Hanlor, Andres Vinelli, and Christian E. Weller, September 29,2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov>articles>PMC5508159. Charley E. Willison, Philip M. Singer, August 2017. Repealing the Affordable care act essential Health Benefits: Threats and Obstacles
https://www.epi.org>aca-obamacare-repeal-impact. How would repealing the ACA affecct healthcare and jobs in your state?
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Title: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The reelection cycle of legislators promotes actions taken by legislators to not run counter to their future efforts to be reelected. In regards to the ACA, I believe Milstead & Short illustrate how these two items combined may play out. It is stated that as the Republican party began to take legislative majority, repeal or revision of these ACA programs would interfere with the upcoming 2018 election cycle (Milstead & Short, 2019, p. 39). As such, some of the major changes to the ACA made as talking points by Republican legislators were held back, relative to an aggressive perusal of overhauling the ACA. If such an attempt was made, the breadth of changes needed would be disruptive enough to have voters possibly lose support for the actions of the Republican party, and as such, pose a major risk to reelection/loss of majority. This demonstrates the cost-benefit calculation that legislators must keep in mind when making legislative decisions in our current system of reelection.
Voter views thereby affect the actions of elected legislators. If an overwhelming and vast majority of Legislator A’s constituents want ACA essentially abolished, this legislator will support relatively aggressive policies and positions which lead to that outcome. In Legislator B’s constituency, the vast majority seem mixed or even indifferent about the fate of the ACA. Legislator B will then likely not show strong support for any policies affecting the ACA, one way or another. This would be partially because any policy support either direction would likely not upset legislator B’s chances of reelection. This would also incentivize legislator B to show strong opinions toward other issues that their constituency does care about greatly, shifting attention elsewhere.
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Surveying and polling the constituency is one way to represent and extrapolate voter views. However according to Pew Research Center in 2014 regardless of party, roughly half of voters said their house member was “in touch with the district” (Pew Research Center, 2014). Meaning even if there was a Republican elected, half of the republicans in that representative’s constituency would still say their representative was out of touch. Later Pew Research in 2022 found that the majority of people did believe that it was important that their preferred party held majority in the congress (Pew Research Center, 2022). This lends evidence that voters in general tend more look at the beliefs and policies the party as a whole has rather than the individual representative of their region, when making voting decisions. This definitely simplifies any vote choice but also at the downside of less specificity when it comes to more detailed issues and talking points.
References
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Pew Research Center. (2014). GOP Has Midterm Engagement Advantage. Pew Research Center.
Pew Research Center. (2022). Midterm election preferences, voter engagement, views of campaign issues. Pew Research Center.
A Sample Answer 3 For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Title: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Hello Michael, the republican party tends to hold back when it’s beneficial to them, and that’s what makes them a stronger party. They stand together and support each other. In terms of voting, I dont specifically vote for a person, I tend to vote for the party, I am a proud democrat and I go with the belief as a whole, which can sometimes be a flaw. The republicans always seem to be aware of the cost benefit calculation as you mentioned. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in the federal rulemaking process is the systematic examination, estimation, and comparison of the potential economic costs and benefits resulting from the promulgation of a new rule. (Perkins & Carey, 2017). Senator Ron johnson was one of the voices that emphasized seeing the GOP repeal the Affordable care act if the republican party were to win the white house, house of rep and senate majorities in 2024. He also stated that the republicans were being strategic in obstructing president Bidens and the democrat’s agenda, and that was a goal they set. (Wang, 2022)
References
Perkins, D. W., & Carey, M. P. (2017, April 12). Cost-benefit analysis and Financial Regulator Rulemaking. Cost-Benefit Analysis and Financial Regulator Rulemaking. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R44813.pdf
Wang, A. B. (2022, March 7). Sen. Ron Johnson says Obamacare should be repealed if GOP wins power back. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/07/sen-ron-johnson-obamacare-repeal-gop-majority-midterms-2024/
A Sample Answer 4 For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Title: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
You have provided good insights regarding the voting pattern of individuals. How did the actual cost of repeal of the ACA potentially factor into legislators voting?
I believe the costs that come alongside the changes needed to repeal the ACA would deter conservative legislators because increasing government spending typically goes against the conservative financial viewpoint of typically reducing government spending. However, repealing the ACA can also be “sold” in a way to actually appeal to conservative financial values, because after the initial spending to make the changes necessary to appeal ACA, there may be a large reduction in government spending in healthcare afterwards. That viewpoint would then appeal to conservative legislators and be in-line with conservative financial beliefs.
Healthcare Impact on Re-election
The cost-benefit analysis made quite the impact on legislatures and their reelection. This has been a political debate for years, and it’s now being used selfishly to win votes. The law and healthcare tie into each other and can significantly impact votes for representatives. For many years republicans used the ACA repeal for votes and attention. The ACA was part of their success, and it was the star of their campaigns at times. People voted specifically on the promise of the ACA being repealed. This didn’t just affect republicans either; this affected all legislation. According to Johnathan Cohn (2020), “Democrats lost 64 seats in the House of Representatives, relinquishing a majority they had won just four years before. And although the results reflected a variety of factors, they had a lot to do with anger over the Affordable Care Act (ACA)”.
For years republicans struck the ACA and tried tearing it apart piece by piece. A lot of people thought that it would ruin the entirety of the healthcare system and make insurance pricier. A cost-benefit analysis by the legislators, Republicans included, soon showed them that they risked not getting re-elected because of the far-reaching negative aspects of ‘repeal and replace. The new policy would deprive many Americans of access to affordable healthcare (Daniel, 2017). Everyone quickly realized that The AHCA would be a financial disaster for millions.
The cost-benefit analysis put all the tiny puzzle pieces together, showing everyone the bigger picture that would change millions of lives. Repealing the ACA would cost roughly $350 billion through 2027 under conventional scoring and $150 billion using dynamic scoring. Repealing ACA would increase the number of uninsured people by 23 million (Daniel, 2017). Figuring out the numbers changed the legislature’s minds and forced them to change how they would win the public votes. The CBA showed the nitty gritty details that people weren’t considering. It showed the actual cost, the time it would take, and the advantages and the disadvantages.
A video from Walden University (2018) featuring Joel Teitelbaum shares, “It is clear that politics is playing a vital role in the design at the outset and now the implementation of the ACA.” I think the cost-benefit analysis greatly impacted whether specific people would earn votes. The most recent KFF Tracking Poll conducted in March 2022 found slightly more than half of the public (55%) hold a favorable opinion of the ACA, while about four in ten (42%) hold a negative view of the law (Montero,2022). The ACA has brought division to the political parties and in several communities.
Legislators’ goals are to remain in office, so at this point, they would do anything for support to be re-elected. As their agendas changed, so did their views. Now they had to change the message to attract different people. The public view changed, and legislatures soon realized they must be careful about what policies they allow to represent them and what procedures they chose to support. Many opinions on government involvement in the health care system impact voters’ choice of the presidential candidate. Blendon and Benson (2014) state, “Polling results have highlighted that voters do not see health care as a single issue. In one poll, 73% of respondents said health care was an important issue in their voting decision. When asked from a list what they meant by this statement, the ACA or Obamacare was the dominant health care issue (48%). Medicare was mentioned by 25%, and Medicaid by 14%”.
As Americans, we want to keep moving forward, working towards coverage that suits everyone. The debates over healthcare and the ACA, in general, will not cease, as we will continually have to work to come to the same solution. Though the answer seems far away, hopefully, one day, we can find a middle ground that suits everyone, even if it looks a little different through political representation. The representation of the specific legislators and what they support/represent will always be what sways votes. Taking each aspect into consideration and looking at the targeted population is what will keep legislators in office.
References
Blendon, R. J., & Benson, J. (2014, September 12). Voters and the affordable care act in the 2014 election: Nejm. New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1412118
Cohn, J. (2020, March 6). The ACA, repeal, and the politics of backlash. Health Affairs Forefront. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20200305.771008
Daniel, M. (2017). The cost of full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Retrieved
September 13, 2022, from https://www.crfb.org/papers/cost-full-repeal-affordable-care-act
Montero,A. (2022, April 14). 5 charts about public opinion on the Affordable Care Act. KFF. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/5-charts-about-public-opinion-on-the-affordable-care-act-and-the-supreme-court/
Walden University, LLC. (Producer). (2018). Introduction to Health Policy and Law with Joel
Teitelbaum [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
The ACA was a very democratic lead legislation, being passed with no republican votes (Walden University LLC, 2018b).
A Sample Answer 5 For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Title: NURS 6050 Discussion – Week 3 Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), famously known as Obamacare, sought to enhance universal healthcare access by making health insurance to be inexpensive for all Americans. ACA targeted individual market, employer-provided benefits, and non-Medicare-eligible population to ensure they accessed affordable and comprehensive insurance coverage without any discrimination on the basis of their health status (Nadash, Miller, Jones, Gusmano, & Rosenbaum, 2018). The Republican Party seeks to stop government interference in the insurance market. It has spearheaded efforts to repeal and replace the ACA through the courts terming it as unconstitutional. Additionally, several states have shown open hostility to the law since it expanded the Medicaid coverage. Besides, House and Senate Republicans have sponsored several repeal initiatives such as Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) and Graham-Cassidy bills (Nadash et al., 2018). The constant onslaught of the ACA from President Trump and Republicans has led to an increase in premiums and several insurers withdrawing from selling the insurance plans in the recent past. The early success of the ACA, whereby millions of Americans secured insurance coverage through the individual markets, subsidies for low-income individuals, and Medicaid, have been eroded.
The Impact of Cost-Benefit Analysis
Milstead and Short (2019) argue that the supporters and critics of ACA include the members of Congress whose main objective is to be re-elected during the election cycles. The opponent’s debates and efforts to repeal and replacement of ACA in both President Obama and Trump’s administrations are deliberate for political expediency as opposed to promoting public health and well-being. Furthermore, the political elites do not perform a cost-benefit analysis of the effectiveness of the ACA to enable them to compromise on a bipartisan basis about the contentious issues contained in the law, such as the insurance mandates, Medicaid, insurance plans, and tax credits.
Analysis of Votes
Notably, the ACA resulted in a progressive American tax system whereby the wealthy individuals were obligated to pay higher federal taxes, 3.8% more on taxes on unearned income and a 0.9% increase in Medicare payroll taxes. The new tax revenue was earmarked to fund the expansions proposed by the ACA (Grogan, 2017). Additionally, the law delimited the out-of-pocket costs for marketplace insurance coverage, specifically $13,200 and $6,600 for family and individual plans (Grogan, 2017). The subsidies and financing options of ACA ensured equitable access to healthcare and lowered the financial burden of healthcare costs for the majority of low-income Americans. According to Congressional Budget Office, The Joint Committee on Taxation, and The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, repealing and replacing the ACA will increase Medicaid costs by over $370 billion over the next decade, which would be covered by the states (Grogan, 2017). Besides, eliminating tax directives will benefit the wealthiest people since they will be able to save almost $600 billion through 2026 (Grogan, 2017). Despite such cost-benefit analysis being conducted to determine the effect of repealing and replacing ACA, the legislators focus on their re-election prospects while discussing the merits and demerits of Obamacare. The lawmakers’ support for ACA must be consistent with the views of their electorates and donors. For instance, voting against the Act would have been contrary to the desires of most Republicans, and they risked losing their elective seats in the House or Senate.
Conclusion
It is evident that ACA not only resulted in national Medicaid expansions and subsidized Marketplace coverage, but it also reduced the cost of medical care and improved access to health services for patients in various age groups. These results would be what any leader would like to experience in their country, that is easy access to affordable and quality care for all people. Nevertheless, legislators would be willing to disregard these benefits to the society if all their chances of re-election would not be increased by them supporting the ACA. It is on the same basis that members of Congress will make decisions on whether to reject or recommend national policies concerning Medicaid/Medicare. Politicians rely on donors and lobbyists for financial support to win their elections. In healthcare, these funders could be medical organizations that are negatively affected by the particular policy under deliberation. As such, to ensure that they continue to receive support from these agencies, legislators have to cater to the interest of their donor and vote to reject a policy that could otherwise, benefit the society. However, this does not mean that they do not believe passing such a proposal into law would be in the best interest of the public. The members of the U.S. Congress usually align with their left- or right-wing political affiliation and support legislations to appease their electorates, lobbyists, and sponsors purposely to ensure they retain their Senate or House seats as opposed to promoting public good in a bipartisan manner.
References
Grogan, C. M. (2017). How the ACA addressed health equity and what repeal would mean. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 42(5), 985-993.
Milstead, J. A., & Short, N. M. (2019). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Nadash, P., Miller, E. A., Jones, D. K., Gusmano, M. K., & Rosenbaum, S. (2018). A series of unfortunate events: implications of Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act for older adults. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 30(3-4), 259-281.
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