While President Obama was in office, he promised reforms for the United States healthcare system and in 2010 he passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as Obamacare. This would rearrange the system to allow for everyone to have access to “affordable” healthcare. The Balance Magazine called it “the most comprehensive piece of legislation since the Social Security Act of 1935.” But how did Obamacare come to be? The Judiciary, Executive and Legislative Branch all have the power to make and influence, already existing, healthcare policies. The Judiciary Branch may not seem like the optimal way for healthcare to be made because judges don’t often know about healthcare but their verdicts on cases set precedent. Examining the Roe v. Wade case women’s healthcare access to abortion, could have easily been changed if the Supreme Court had ruled differently. When the Court decided that it was unconstitutional to invade the privacy of others, it extended that privacy to the fetus. The Judiciary Branch is only deciding on laws already made, which turns to the Legislative Branch. Unlike the Judiciary branch the Legislative branch is equipped at making healthcare laws. With necessary funds they can establish bodies to gather information and analyze data before trying to put a new policy together. The branch is supposed to be unbiased, impartial enough to collect all the facts before enforcing a new law, seeing as this is the branch which is accountable to the people who elect them. There are, of course, flaws with each system. The Legislative branch is made up of humans who have their own thoughts and opinions and can be swayed by outside sources. Professional associations, like the American Medical Association, have large influence over voters. If a politician is perceived to be against the AMA, the pole numbers can reflect a negative feedback. Another flaw is the length of time these legislatures have the opportunity to help push for new healthcare changes. Long-term problems could be overlooked by problems that arise during their time in office to help with chances for reelection. Taxes used to cover cost, of say medical care for all, could be a main focus during election years as constituents ask their representatives how they’re going to fix their taxes to stay the same. But at the end of the day, legislatures can make effective policies like the American Disabilities Act which helps prevent discrimination against people who have disabilities. Just one area of healthcare coverage, providing people with disabilities the same coverage as those who don’t have disabilities. Congress coming together to help the American people is rare but when they do it can benefit a lot of people.
Moving on, looking at the Executive branch and its healthcare policy making. The Executive branch has many of the same benefits as the Legislative branch. It can be impartial and responsible for its actions. The President, usually, a main member of one political party has the ability to deviate to another political parties’ reforms. One person isn’t supposed to know everything, so they often can rely on wide variety of sources for information before making informed decisions. This insures, hopefully, that the President is enacting the best legislation for the nation. They can do so through executive orders, or signing laws brought up from Congress. The agencies that the President utilizes, aren’t attached to political parties and can’t be influenced by Congressional members, giving the President unbiased information. When it comes to public policy on healthcare, only unbiased legislation should be put out but there are large companies who benefit from influencing the government into allowing them to operate. Moving forward with blog post topics, cooperation influencing healthcare policy could be on the agenda. For this blog post, it was just on three branches of government and enacting healthcare legislation.
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