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The Affordable Care Act ( Aca )

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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a health reform law that was signed by President Barrack Obama on March 23, 2010. The full name of the law is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). One week later the President also signed a law called the Health Care Education and Reconciliation Act (HCERA), which was a supplement that made several changes the PPACA. What the country currently refers to as the ACA or "Obamacare" is both of these laws combined. (McDonough, 2012) Many Americans feel that this law was "slipped " in, by taking advantage of optimal timing, when the Democratic party had exactly the number of votes needed to push the law forward, without the help of votes from the Republican party. The Senate had exactly …show more content…

The House passed PPACA and the Reconciliation Act. The PPACA was ready for the President to sign, however, the Senate still had to pass the Reconciliation Act in the House. With Senator Kennedy gone and replaced by a republican, Senate only had 59 votes to pass the Reconciliation Act. In order to pass the Act, Senate Democrats decided that they could use the "Reconciliation Rule". This rule was originally designed to be used for budget item approvals and could be passed with only 51 votes in the Senate, not the usual 60. Reconciliation was not intended to be used for legislation of the magnitude of Obamacare. Both of the "Acts" were passed and sent to President Obama for his signature without a single Republican vote in favor of the legislation. (Sussman, 2013) The way in which these two laws were passed has caused a large partisan divide. Without bipartisan support, many believe that the ACA will not be a viable "fix" to the countries healthcare dilemmas. (McDonough, 2012) The ACA is the most substantial piece of legislation about health care since Medicare in the 1960s. The official government website promoting Obamacare explains that the ACA 's main focus is to provide more Americans with access to affordable health insurance, to improve the quality of health care and health insurance, to regulate the health insurance industry, and to reduce health care spending in the US. (What is Obamacare, 2016) The website

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