The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is one of the most important policy initiatives of the American government in the contemporary world. The first of its aims to ensure that there is collaboration between government, individuals, and employers in order to achieve near-universal healthcare coverage. The second aim is to ensure that al of those individuals who receive health insurance coverage are able to achieve a high level of fairness, affordability, and quality. Another aim is to ensure that individuals who have coverage are able to receive a high quality of care without wasteful spending through the improvement of efficiency and accountability to patients. This policy also aims at promoting the development of a situation where there is a strengthening of primary care with the objective of easier access to preventative healthcare; essentially encouraging the reduction of healthcare costs. The final objective of this policy is to ensure that there is investment in needed healthcare facilities in so that it can be possible to bring about the expansion of clinical preventative care that is useful in the creation of a stable healthcare system. Patient Protection and Affordable Care is essential in the fixing the healthcare system so that a majority of the population can have access to quality care.
One of the most fundamental aspects of the American healthcare system is that it is one of the most expensive in the world. Unlike in European countries, where there are strong social welfare systems that ensure universal healthcare, in the United States, prior to Affordable Care, it was quite difficult for individuals to access quality healthcare. Furthermore, there was a situation where very few individuals had health insurance; meaning that some treatable health conditions ended up becoming a burden on patients. Therefore, the move by government to ensure that there was the expansion of healthcare insurance as well as an increase in investment in medical facilities to cater for the needs of individuals in need of them. This legislation had considerable support from the Obama administration, which promoted it by proposing that it was not only a matter of government policy, but also a moral issue that could not be ignored. In addition, while there was an attempt by the Democratic majority in Congress to take on a bipartisan approach, this ended up not being the case because the policy faced considerable opposition from conservative elements in the Republican Party such as the Tea Party. Moreover, some lobby groups associated with the healthcare complex were also involved in pushing their agendas in the development of the policy.
Among the considerations that were made during the development of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was the establishment of a single-payer Medicare for All Act. However, this option was discarded because of the belief that it would not be able to acquire support within the Senate that was filibuster-proof. The Medicare for All Act would have been one of the most progressive accomplishments of the policy because it would have ensured that all individuals were able to have health insurance. However, this alternative was not considered because it would have met with considerable opposition, especially from the conservative elements in the Republican Party. Furthermore, there was the fear that if such an act was passed by Congress, it would encourage freeloading among those individuals who were not willing to pay their fair share of insurance premiums. Therefore, the most progressive aspects of the Affordable Care Act were discarded because of the potential of considerable opposition to it. Furthermore, the need to ensure that the bipartisan concerns were addressed so that the act could be passed meant that compromises had to be made in order to create a situation where it was possible for majority support to be comfortably obtained.
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act was conducted at the state level. However, it was not implemented according to its original design because of considerable resistance that the legislation received from its opponents. A consequence was that states were given the option of making the decision of whether or not to expand their Medicaid programs. Since the objective of promoting the full adoption of Affordable Care in the whole of the United States was not achieved, it has remained a considerable point of contention on both sides of the political divide. However, a number of states ended up expanding their Medicaid to such an extent that a large number of individuals who previously did not have the means to have quality healthcare currently have access to it. This situation shows that if there had been proper bipartisan support for the policy, it would have led to universal healthcare coverage in the country to such an extent that it would have promoted the health of all Americans while reducing costs. Those states that opted not to expand their Medicaid created a situation where the federal government had to revise its estimates concerning how Affordable Care would work. This meant that it was essential to reduce the expectations concerning the savings that would have been made following implementation in all states.
While the policy started with good intentions for the healthcare system, it ended up not being able to achieve its intended goals because of resistance towards it both at the political and state levels. However, it was able to solve a considerable part of the original problem because it allowed individuals who could not previously afford it to have healthcare coverage. The progress of this policy was interrupted because some states opted not to adopt it because of the belief that it would increase their Medicaid costs. The lack of bipartisan support for this policy, especially considering Republican resistance, meant that its chances of success were limited to those states that adopted it. A consequence was that because some states opted not to adopt Affordable Care, the cost savings ended up being much less than was originally projected. Thus, this policy can be considered to have been neither a success nor a failure because while it was able to achieve its objectives in some states, in others, it had a hard time gaining acceptance.
