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14. Expand ObamaCare
- Background
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or colloquially Obamacare, is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act consists of a combination of measures to control healthcare costs, and an expansion of coverage through public and private insurance: broader Medicaid eligibility and Medicare coverage, and subsidized, regulated private insurance.
By 2008 many Democrats were considering using this approach as the basis for healthcare reform. Experts have said that the legislation that eventually emerged from Congress in 2009 and 2010 bears many similarities to the 2007 bill and that it was deliberately patterned after Romney's state healthcare plan. Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at MIT and an architect of Massachusetts' health care reform who advised the Clinton and Obama presidential campaigns on healthcare issues, served as a technical consultant to the Obama administration, and helped draft the ACA.
(Source: Wikipedia)
- Official Democratic Position
We believe accessible, affordable, high quality health care is part of the American promise, that Americans should have the security that comes with good health care, and that no one should go broke because they get sick. We enacted landmark reforms that are already helping millions of Americans, and more benefits will come soon.
As a result of our efforts, today, young Americans entering the workforce can stay on their parents' plans. Insurers can no longer refuse to cover kids with pre-existing medical conditions. Insurance companies will no longer be able to arbitrarily cap and cancel coverage, or charge women more simply because of their gender.
Soon, working families will finally have the security of knowing they won't lose health care or be forced into bankruptcy if a family member gets sick or loses their job. And soon, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Source: 2012 Democratic Party Platform Sep 4, 2012
- Official Republican Position
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act--Obamacare--was never really about healthcare, though its impact upon the nation's health is disastrous. From its start, it was about power, the expansion of government control over one sixth of our economy, and resulted in an attack on our Constitution, by requiring that U.S. citizens purchase health insurance. We agree with the four dissenting justices of the Supreme Court: "In our view the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety." It was the high-water mark of an outdated liberalism, the latest attempt to impose upon Americans a euro-style bureaucracy to manage all aspects of their lives. Obamacare has been struck down in the court of public opinion. It would tremendously expand Medicaid without significant reform, leaving the States to assume unsustainable financial burdens. If fully implemented, it could not function; and Republican victories in the November elections will guarantee that it is never implemented.
Source: 2012 Republican Party Platform Aug 27, 2012
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