Affordable Care Act (Aca), Signed

Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law by President Barack Obama in March, 2010, is -- objectively speaking -- the most comprehensive social reform law passed since the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and Medicare, all enacted in the 1960s. The reform legislation is aimed at the whole country but senior citizens in particular are impacted. The legislation holds insurance companies accountable (ACA prohibits companies from dropping your coverage because you get sick or because of a pre-existing condition); it allows young adults to stay on their parents' plan until they are 26; it makes healthcare affordable and prohibits insurance companies from putting a lifetime limit on the amount of coverage an individual can have. Those who cannot afford coverage (by 2014 all Americans will be required to have healthcare insurance) can receive tax credits and other financial support to help them purchase coverage. There is much more to the legislation that this paper is not lengthy enough to cover.

And yet to hear some of the criticisms of the ACA, one would think this plan (among other things) will bankrupt the country, send senior citizens to their graves when they are not ready, and usher in some kind of socialism that goes against the grain of capitalism and democracy. One of the attacks on the legislation that got the most publicity -- and was the most vicious distortion of many distortions that were launched by conservatives to plant doubt in citizens' minds -- was made by former Alaska governor, Sarah Palin. Palin wrote in her Facebook page: My baby "…with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil," Palin concluded. The truth is, there are no death panels in the bill, and Palin's smear is just one of many outrageous attacks that have made this bill highly controversial. It isn't controversial just because it's new and bold and people don't really understand all its components; it is controversial in large part because so much highly effective propaganda has been spewed forth on TV cable news, talk radio, and in other forums, that otherwise open-minded, fair-minded people have become skeptical or flat out rejected it.

But what is the real story of ACA and what are the legitimate complaints against it?

According to a story in the New Republic (Cohn, 2010, p. 1) the Republican Party and Tea Party members have made hay this election season by attacking ACA. The GOP attacks ACA, Cohn writes, because it allegedly "…cut $500 billion from Medicare" and because it takes away the rights of citizens who presently have a healthcare policy from seeing the doctor of their choice. In fact, the ACA "actually strengthens Medicare's guaranteed benefits," says Kaiser's Health News editor Marilyn Werber Serafini, quoted by Cohn in the article. The Affordable Care Act makes preventative care "free" and covers "a greater share of seniors' prescription drugs, Serafini explains.