1. How might the elite approach explain the fact that the U.S. has not yet passed a comprehensive national policy to address climate change? With the world watching, the United States government has not yet passed comprehensive national climate change policies and the powerful elite might be a major contributing factor. The powerful, the elite, the wealthiest Americans have control society and dominate world finances, economics and government concerns to include climate change. The elite have the dominate power to attempt national policy changes, yet make few adjustments to climate. The elite include many upper class sectors of society that run leading American energy companies who are apprehensive about policies that may impact the …show more content…
How might the pluralist approach explain the passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare")? Hint: see Figure 9.4 for help The United States continues to struggle with affordable medical for its citizens. Many different groups within the American society have common interests dealing with the Affordable Care Act. Society demands a fair and realistic answer to this highly political issue. The pluralistic approach characterizes the political groups that have united together, searching for a political assistance that will provide medical benefits for the increasing American population. As individual groups continued to grow and unite, their common interest produced political recourses. It’s these resources that altered society’s expectations and assisted in shaping public policy rulings. Figure 9.4 displays how public opinion and government equilibrium point is centralized between total state provisions and no regulation with total private provision. Americans wanted personal choice without total state jurisdiction. The pluralist sector tackling the Affordable Care Act desired a balanced public policy that establishes society’s desire for health care in an active approach utilizing political
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
During the study of various reforms that were proposed and denied, both the GOP and Democrats attempted to find a balance that would guarantee the success of their proposals. Years of research, growing ideologies, political views and disregard for the country's constitution sparked an array of alternatives to solve the country's healthcare spending. The expenditure of US healthcare dollars was mostly due to hospital reimbursements, which constitute to 30% (Longest & Darr, 2008). During the research for alternatives, the gr...
Frakes, Vincent L. “ PARTISANSHIP AND (UN) COMPROMISE: A STUDY OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.” Harvard Journal of Legislation 49 (2012): 135-149. EBSCO HOST
America is known for democracy, freedom, and the American Dream. American citizens have the right to free speech, free press, the right to bear arms, and the right to religious freedom to name a few. The Declaration of Independence states that American citizens have the rights including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” America promises equality and freedom and the protection of their rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. But with all the rights and freedoms that American citizens enjoy, there is one particular area where the United States seems to be lacking. That area is health care. The United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have some form of legal recognition of a right to health care (Yamin 1157). Health care reform in the United States has become a major controversy for politicians, health care professionals, businesses, and citizens. Those in opposition to reform claim that health care is not a human right, therefore the government should not be involved. Supporters of reform believe that health care is most definitely a human right and should be available to everyone in the United States instead of only those who can afford it, and that it is the government’s responsibility to uphold that right.
Even during the worst economic downturn, the advantages of a universal health care system remain hidden from society. Instead, the adverse impacts continue to occupy the minds of many Americans. Misguidedly, citizens are repeatedly ensnared into ideological disputes inc...
Health care is one of those issues where the political spectrum shows some overlap. Both sides want the same outcome: a healthy and happy society. However, the ways they want to accomplish this varies greatly. The Republicans are staunchly against government-organized healthcare. They believe that the less government the better, believing that “government run affordable health care leads to inefficiencies and can be disastrous to the nation’s health overall.” They believe that health care should be left to doctors, HMOs and insurance companies to decide and manage. However, the democrats’ main point on health care is that it should be funded and controlled by the government for the people. They hold that all people should be able to have the assurance of health without worrying about losing coverage or going into debt. This would be most effective for the poor and elderly, those who normally would not be able to afford coverage and need it most. As such, Med...
In the early years of 2009 to 2010 the political process pushed health care through legislation led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Health care and government, 2013). This process was extraordinarily tiring, as many defenders of the bills passing were present. Many congressional members “dug their heels in”, and wanted to slow down the process even more as confusion about the bill was posed (Health care and government, 2013). Despite opposition by many sides of the American people, a Democrat-dominated House of Representatives passed the bill and the Affordable Care Act was signed into action on March 21, 2010 (Hogberg, 2013). Indeed, all three branches of government were instrumental with the passing the Affordable Care Act into place.
On March 23, 2010, President Barrack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into legislation. The bill was created to provide affordable and effective health care to all Americans. It has since provided tens of millions of uninsured Americans with affordable healthcare (“ObamaCare: Pros and Cons of ObamaCare”). While doing so, an estimated 31 million still remain uncovered as of 2016 (“Not ‘Everybody’ Is Covered Under ACA”). To this day, the health care plan has remained widely criticized and controversial. Many believe the Affordable Care Act has not done its duty and is unconstitutional to force healthcare upon Americans. Some of the people who share these views believe it isn’t the government’s job to provide welfare. They believe healthcare
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by President Barack Obama is a significant change of the American healthcare system since insurance plans programs like Medicare and Medicaid (“Introduction to”). As a result, “It is also one of the most hotly contested, publicly maligned, and politically divisive pieces of legislation the country has ever seen” (“Introduction to”). The Affordable Care Act should be changed because it grants the government too much control over the citizen’s healthcare or the lack of individual freedom to choose affordable health insurance.
As cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once said “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” In an excerpt from an essay published in the New York Times Magazine, American public intellectual Michael Pollan reveals his goal to convince the ordinary of citizens America that they are capable of saving the world from climate change and to answer the unappeasable question of “Why bother?”. This inquiry stems from the belief that one person is not capable of making a difference in relation to the larger spectrum of Americans who continue to emit a large amount of C02, increasing the effects of climate change, and destroying the environment. Through the exploration of behavior change, and other personal alternatives aimed to reduce America 's carbon footprint, Pollan aspires to have
There is an ongoing debate on the topic of how to fix the health care system in America. Some believe that there should be a Single Payer system that ensures all health care costs are covered by the government, and the people that want a Public Option system believe that there should be no government interference with paying for individual’s health care costs. In 1993, President Bill Clinton introduced the Health Security Act. Its goal was to provide universal health care for America. There was a lot of controversy throughout the nation whether this Act was going in the right direction, and in 1994, the Act died. Since then there have been multiple other attempts to fix the health care situation, but those attempts have not succeeded. The Affordable Care Act was passed in the senate on December 24, 2009, and passed in the house on March 21, 2010. President Obama signed it into law on March 23 (Obamacare Facts). This indeed was a step forward to end the debate about health care, and began to establish the middle ground for people in America. In order for America to stay on track to rebuild the health care system, we need to keep going in the same direction and expand our horizons by keeping and adding on to the Affordable Care Act so every citizen is content.
Health insurance, too many American citizens, is not an option. However, some citizens find it unnecessary. Working in the health care field, I witness the effects of uninsured patients on medical offices. Too often, I see a “self-pay” patient receive care from their doctor and then fail to pay for it. Altogether, their refusal to pay leaves the office at a loss of money and calls for patients to pay extra in covering for the cost of the care the uninsured patient received. One office visit does not seem like too big of an expense, but multiple patients failing to pay for the care they receive adds up. Imagine the hospital bills that patients fail to pay; health services in a hospital are double, sometimes triple, in price at a hospital. It is unfair that paying patients are responsible for covering these unpaid services. Luckily, the Affordable Care Act was passed on March 23, 2010, otherwise known as Obamacare. Obamacare is necessary in America because it calls for all citizens to be health insured, no worrying about pre-existing conditions, and free benefits for men and women’s health.
...empts at doing our part. But what is really needed is change at national and global levels. Only by convincing leaders to create laws that improve our energy policy, and pushing companies to adopt sustainable business practices on a global level, can we see real change. (EDF - Environmental Defense Fund , 2015) We need laws, polices, and infringes…..etc. whatever it takes in order to get our CO2 emissions under control. There are plenty of ways to improve on the current state of global warming like limiting global warming pollution, utilizing renewable energy, drive smarter vehicles, or even drive less. However small the action any change in our normal day to day can still help tremendously especially when done by a large number of people. We have to remember that this is the only planet we have and global warming is a global issue that needs to be taken seriously.
Global warming has become the spotlight for both sides of the battle over sustainability in American politics. Supporters of legislation that limit green house gases believe, along with the vast majority of scientists, that humans are the cause of the accelerating temperature rise of our planet. Opponents of such legislation argue that the rise in annual global temperature is attributed to the Earth’s natural heating and cooling cycles. No matter which side is correct, it seems only reasonable to me to explore alterative energy sources because our planet has a limited supply of fossil fuels. “Repowering America” will not be an easy task but I believe it is essential for our country’s economic and national stability. So, what has kept America, or more specifically America’s politicians, from leading in what is possibly the most important dilemma facing our planet?