The Dysfunctional Politics of the Affordable Care Act
By: Greg M. Shaw
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2023
Place of publication: Westport, CT
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
ISBN-13: 9798400642845
Subjects: Politics & government
Description: While analyzing the contentious debate over health care reform, this much-needed study also challenges the argument that treating medical patients like shoppers can significantly reduce health expenditures.  This revealing work focuses on the politics surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), explaining how and why supporters and opponents have approached the issue as they have since the act's passage in 2010. The first book to systematically examine public knowledge of the ACA across time, it also documents how that knowledge has remained essentially static since 2010, despite the importance of health-policy reform to every American.  An important book for anyone concerned about the skyrocketing costs of health care in the United States, the work accomplishes three main tasks intended to help readers better understand one of the most important policy challenges of our time. The early chapters explain why congressional Democrats designed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 as they did, clarifies some of the consequences of the act's features, and examines why Republicans have fought the implementation of the law so fiercely. The study then looks at how the intersection of economics and politics applies to the ACA. Finally, the book details what the public knows-and doesn't know-about the law and discusses the prospects for citizens gaining the knowledge they should have about the overall issue of health-policy reform.
Table of contents: title: Preface Chapter 1 Designing the Affordable Care Act: Fateful Decisions Chapter 2 Fighting Obamacare Chapter 3 Will Markets Save Us? Chapter 4 Learning to Live with the Enemy Chapter 5 The Cost of Health Care Chapter 6 A Frustrated Search for the Public's Voice Chapter 7 Repealing the Affordable Care Act: Now What? Notes Suggested Further Readings Bibliography Index