After months of political brawling on Capitol Hill, President Obama made history last March by signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a sweeping reform of America's healthcare system. Yesterday, the first provisions went into effect, and Obama was in campaign mode, with his eye on November's elections. House Republicans have promised to repeal several portions of the reform in their "Pledge to America." With Obama still in the White House, that's impossible, so they've taken the matter to court while they whittle away in Washington. Meantime, public distrust and confusion are so widespread that many Democrats are playing down what they once called a major achievement. We look at the new provisions. What are the benefits? What are the flaws? Do the Republicans have any better ideas?
Healthcare Reform: The Policies and the Politics
Credits
Guests:
- Noam Levey - Los Angeles Times - @NoamLevey
- Mollyann Brodie - Senior VP for Executive Operations, Kaiser Family Foundation - @Mollybrodie
- Avik Roy - Bipartisan Policy Center / Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity - @Avik
- Jonathan Cohn - Senior National Correspondent at Huffington Post, where he writes about health care politics and policy; author of “The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage” - @CitizenCohn