It was a long and winding road to get the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, passed into law. President Barack Obama was not the first to make an attempt at reforming the American healthcare system, as many Commanders in Chief had tried before him. Each previous effort was met with failure for one reason or another.
Despite an inability to completely overhaul the system, there were a number of victories that came about from their many efforts. These include the establishment of programs like Medicare and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
After a successful effort in Massachusetts in 2006, the first such legislation of its kind, the foundations for the Affordable Care Act were set. If this program could be passed into law and work successfully, then it could be the perfect model for a nationwide bill.
The Rights and Protections Under Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act came about because the nation’s healthcare system was badly broken. Healthcare companies could charge high rates for coverage and care based on the status of your health. They would often charge higher or lower rates depending on gender. Since women typically need more healthcare due pregnancies and childbirth, they were often subjected to paying more for premiums.
The insurance companies were also denying people coverage due to preexisting conditions, so if you had any type of illness when you applied for a policy, companies could decline the application based solely on your medical history. People would go bankrupt trying to pay off medical bills. The nation’s emergency rooms would bear the brunt of so many uninsured individuals who would use them for minor maladies instead of major emergencies.
The Road to Obamacare
Shortly after the Massachusetts legislation was passed, a bill was introduced in Congress and healthcare reform became a hot button topic during the 2008 Presidential Election. After Barack Obama was elected, he turned his attention to the bill that was under consideration and put his full effort behind trying to get it passed.
Naturally, partisan politics got in the way of that bill passing both the House and the Senate as Republicans strongly opposed the reforms that were being discussed. New versions of the bill were drafted on both sides of the aisle with many changes being implemented to the intent and purpose of the healthcare reforms that were proposed as policy. The debate between Republicans and Democrats became intense and polarized in a political climate that was already fraught with contention between the two sides.
Members of the House and Senate drafted their own versions of the bill. While the Republicans had a majority in the House, they vowed to block any legislation from being passed. The language of the bill underwent numerous changes and negotiations between hardline and moderate members of Congress until there was a version that was deemed suitable to pass, which it did in the House on December 24, 2009. On March 21, 2010 the bill passed through the Senate with every Republican voting against and all Democratic Senators, along with 2 Independents, voted in favor of the bill. Almost immediately, the Republicans tried unsuccessfully to repeal it, the first of almost 50 attempts to do so.
The bill was then signed into law on March 23rd, 2010 and later upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012.