America's health care system, as good as it is, faces the daunting
problems of escalating costs and millions of uninsured. After a
year of discussion and debate,
Congress passed historic health insurance reform legislation,
and President Obama signed The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
into law on March 23, 2010.
One might have expected that the health care debate was over. In
fact the unwieldy legislation, dubbed "ObamaCare" by critics, was a
major contributing factor to Democrats' mid-term
election losses in 2010. Critics went to the courts and the
matter wound its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 28, 2012
in a surprise decision, the Court
substantially upheld the ACA. Even as the Administration
continues
working to implement the legislation, critics in Congress are seeking
to repeal it, and some states led by Republican governors are resisting
implementation.
Federal Government | State | Organizations
|
Supporting
|
Opposing
|
More
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Supreme Court
of the United States: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
U.S.
Department
of
Justice:
Defending
the
Affordable
Care
Act
"This law has become the subject of several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the provision requiring Americans who can afford it to maintain basic health insurance coverage. The Department is vigorously defending the law in these cases."
U.S.
Department
of Health & Human Services
Center on Medicare and Medicaid Services
U.S.
Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
U.S.
House Energy & Commerce Committee (Subcommittee on Health)
HealthReform.gov (archive
site)
The
Repeal the Job-killing Health Care Law Act, H.R. 2.
passed by the House on Jan. 19, 2010 by a vote of
245-189.
STATES
June-July 2012:
Examples of Republican Governors' Reactions to the Supreme Court Ruling
"Immediately after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010, 13 Attorneys General filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Department of Labor alleging the Health Care Reform law signed by the President was unconstitutional."
National
Conference
of
State
Legislatures:
Health
ORGANIZATIONS
Kaiser Health News
"a nonprofit news organization committded to in-depth coverage of health care policy and politics."...a major program of the Kaiser Family Foundation
"...a
non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health
care
issues facing the nation. The Foundation is an independent voice and
source
of facts and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care
community,
and the general public."
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
"the nation's largest philanthropy devoted solely to the public's health...The mission of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is to improve the health and health care of all Americans."
National Coalition on Health Care
"America's oldest, most diverse, and broadest based
group working to
achieve comprehensive health system reform." [501(c)(3)]
NCHC Action Fund
"formed to educate the public and advocate on local, state, and
national levels for fair and systemic reform of the American health
care system." [501(c)(4)]
"The
Commonwealth Fund's mission is to promote a high performing health care
system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater
efficiency,
particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income
people,
the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly
adults...
The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on
health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice
and
policy."
Center for Health Transformation
[launched May 2003 as a project of the Gingrich Group] "collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money for all Americans... The Center is based on the following premise: Small changes or reactionary fixes to separate pieces of the current system have not and will not work. We need a system-wide transformation. Unlike other alliances, the Center unites stakeholders across the spectrum (providers, employers, vendors, trade associations, disease groups, think tanks) and government leaders at both the state and federal level to drive transformation according to a shared vision and key principles."
"...opinion
leaders need an unbiased source of information so they can understand
the
roots of the nation's health care problems and the trade-offs posed by
competing proposals for change. The Alliance for Health Reform exists
to
provide that information. We offer a full array of resources and
viewpoints,
in a number of formats, to elected officials and their staffs,
journalists,
policy analysts and advocates... A nonpartisan, nonprofit
group,
the Alliance believes that all in the U.S. should have access to health
care and health coverage at a reasonable cost. But we do not lobby for
any particular blueprint, nor do we take positions on legislation."
"non-profit, non-partisan
organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of
every
community and working to make disease prevention a national
priority...
By focusing on PREVENTION, PROTECTION, and COMMUNITIES, TFAH is leading
the fight to make disease prevention a national priority."
Universal Health Care Action Network
"A
nationwide network that promotes comprehensive health care for all
through
education, strategy development and advocacy."
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)
"the national association representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans."
Doctors for Medical Liability Reform (DMLR): Protect Patients Now
"protecting patients' access
to healthcare by supporting federal legislation that will reform our
nation's
broken medical liability system."
American
Association
for
Justice-Medical
Negligence
GROUPS SUPPORTIVE
"The Health Care and You Coalition is made up of some of our country’s leading organizations that represent consumers, patients, physicians, nurses, hospitals and pharmacists. Our goal is to provide the public with easy-to-understand information about the health care law."
Families USA-Health Reform Central
"...national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans."
Health Care for America Now (HCAN)
"Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is a national grassroots campaign of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states representing 30 million people dedicated to winning quality, affordable health care we all can count on in 2010 and beyond."
EFFORTS TO REPEAL
ALEC-Freedom
of
Choice
in
Health
Care
Act
American
Solutions-Repeal It Now
Americans
for
Prosperity-Health
Citizens to Repeal
Obamacare
Defend
Your Healthcare (Betsy McCaughey)
Docs 4
Patient Care
e21-ObamaCare Watch.org
FreedomWorks-Healthcare
John
Birch Society-Stop ObamaCare
Repeal
It
Now.org
Revere America
The Repeal Pledge | Saving Our Health Care
projects of Independent Women's Voice and American
Majority Action
also
opposing
U.S.
Chamber of
Commerce-Health Care | Health
Care Toolkit
NFIB-Healthcare
Reform
THINK TANKS
American
Enterprise Institute-Health Policy Studies
Brookings Institution -
Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform | Health Care
Cato
Institute-Health Care
Center for American Progress-Health Care
Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities-Health
The
Heartland Institute-Health Care News
Heritage
Foundation-Center
for
Health
Policy
Studies
National
Center
for
Policy
Analysis-Free
Market
Health
Care
Policy
Rand
Corporation-Health Care
Urban Institute-Health
Policy Center
PARTY PLATFORMS
Democrats, Republicans and Major Third
Parties
MORE
June 28, 2012 - Outside the
Supreme Court on the day of the ruling.
March 26, 2012 - Outside the
Supreme Court on the
first day of oral arguments.
March 21, 2010 - The
scene
outside
the
Capitol.
Summary of
the great health care [insurance] reform debate of 2009-10.
