Tag / ACA
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The Last True Conservative
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to repeal Obamacare, more officially known as the Affordable Care Act or by the acronym “ACA,” over 50 times since its passage. Two separate Republican presidential nominees – Mitt Romney and Donald Trump – and countless potential Representatives and Senators campaigned, and in many cases won, on promises…
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United We Oppose, Divided We Govern
Anyone can tell you that Republicans are on the right and Democrats are on the left. But the left and right of what, exactly? The ubiquitous left-right dichotomy assumes that political parties can be placed along a one-dimensional ideological spectrum. This political fiction underlies most partisan political rhetoric; at the same time, it is becoming…
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The Democrats’ Problems For 2018
The 2018 Midterms present the best opportunity for the Democratic Party to take back the House since they lost it in 2010. Trump is a historically unpopular President, history is on the Democrats’ side as the opposing party in a midterm election, and Democratic grassroots activism has skyrocketed. In theory, taking the 24 seats they…
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Healthcare Partisanship: Where Do We Draw the Line?
In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed the landmark legislation known as EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act) which mandated that hospitals who accepted payments from the federal government (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) had to provide emergency medical treatment until their condition is stabilized. This widely popular mandate is often cited as a guarantee that every patient…
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The Risks of the Public Option
In early July, the health policy community heard a familiar proposal from familiar voices. After some restraint, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton promoted a public option insurance plan in every state as a key pillar of her health care platform, a provision that appeals to Senator Bernie Sander’s progressive base as a step toward a…
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The Supreme Court Rules for Politics
Late last month, the Supreme Court handed down two huge decisions in the cases of Obergfell v. Hodges and King v. Burwell , respectively legalizing gay marriage nationwide and saving the Affordable Care Act. But in each case, the reasoning behind the majority’s decision was highly questionable. Both cases represented a continuation of a disturbing…
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Incentives for Quality Clinical Care
There is very little that people agree on in healthcare reform. If you’ve paid any attention to the controversy surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare), you know that the policies governing our healthcare system are not only hopelessly complex, but also very contentious. Disagreements stem from fundamental ideological gaps, different theories…
