The Future of Obamacare
Since 2010, the fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been uncertain. The ACA was a historic achievement for the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats. But it passed Congress without a single Republican vote, and the GOP subsequently mounted legal and legislative challenges to Obamacare, vowing to repeal and replace it. The Supreme Court decision in June 2012 upholding the ACA’s constitutionality dealt a serious blow to the law’s opponents. Now, in the aftermath of the 2012 elections, with President Barack Obama reelected and Democrats maintaining majority control of the Senate, Republicans lack a viable option for overturning the law through legislative or executive action. There will be no Republican in the White House before 2017 at the earliest, and by then the ACA’s core provisions will have been in effect for 3 years. It’s difficult to take benefits away once they’re in place — one reason that many Republicans saw the 2012 elections as their last chance to derail Obamacare.
