The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

University of Phoenix

HCS/531

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

President Barack Obama based his 2008 presidential campaign on the need for health care reform in the United States. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) will was created to ensure that all Americans had access to quality and affordable health care. "Obamacare" is the moniker used by critics of President Obama's plans to reform health care. The primary concern of opponents to the health plan is that the Federal government will attain too much control over personal health care decisions and benefits. Despite the trepidation that the PPACA will force a complex one-size-fits all health system; the plan will create the change within the current health system that is paramount to contain cost and provide a health care which should be a basic right of all Americans.

The PPACA began in 2008 during the presidential election campaign. President Obama vowed to create a health plan that was based on the government program currently being used by Congress. The implementation of the PPACA began in February, 2009 when President Obama addressed a joint session of the U.S Congress. The process did no formally begin until March 5, 2009, when President Obama held a conference with industry leaders to discuss reform. According to the United States Senate Committee on Finance (n.d), from June 17, 2009 to September 14, 2009 "three Democratic and three Republican committee members met for a series of 31 meetings to discuss the development of a health care reform bill. The committee members where Republican senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Olympia Snowe of Maine; Democratic senators Max Baucus of Montana, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. The meetings were held in public. The public were able to view the meetings on C-SPAN. The committee met for more than 60 hours and the discussions became the foundation of the PPACA.

During the 2009 summer recess, there were many events that occurred. President Obama traveled to Montana to discuss the health reform plans while the Tea Party movement organized protests and town hall meetings. The Chairman's Mark of the Finance Committee health care reform bill was released on September 16, 2009. According to the Office of the Press Secretary (2009), President Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress supporting reform which outlined his proposal for health care reform. The Finance Committee held a seven-day markup debate which was the longest in the 22 years of the Finance Committee. On October 13, 2009, the Finance Committee approved the America's Healthy Future Act with a bipartisan vote of 14 to 9.

On November 7, according to Dunham (2010), the House of Representatives passes its version of healthcare reform legislation, including a public option, by a narrow 220-215 vote. In the end, 39 Democrats vote against the bill and only one Republican votes for it." The Affordable Health Care of America was forwarded to the Senate for approval. The Senate pasted the bill on December 24, 2009 with a 60-39 vote. The bill was temporarily blocked when Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson threatened a filibuster. He later retreated after the bill was amended to offer a higher rate of Medicaid reimbursement for Nebraska. The Republican Party sustained a filibuster with the election on Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown on January 19, 2010.

The House of Representatives had their own challenges. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel proposed a less ambitious bill. Stolberg, Zeleny & Hulse (2010) indicate that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed Emanuel's downsized approach and referred his approach as "Kiddie Care." PPACA gained additional attention after news of Anthem Blue Cross in California plans to increase premium rates by up to 39%. President Obama utilized the opportunity to unveil his own health care reform plan. The members of the house had to forsake their own Affordable Health Care for America Act and pass the Senate bill with amendments via the reconciliation process. The House of Representatives passed the Senate-passed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act along with the health care reform improvements bill on March 21, 2010. The bill had a 219 to 212 vote with 178 Republicans and 34 Democrats voting against the bill. President Obama signed the PPACA into law on March 23, 2010. The PPACA mandates that almost everyone in the America must have health insurance by 2014.

The Republican Party has pledged to repeal the PPACA and soon after the act was signed into law; 21 state Attorney General filed suits that PPACA violated the Constitution and rights of American citizens. Other participants in the PPACA process include the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which estimated the cost of the PPACA and the effect of the reform on the national deficit. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)