The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama
in March 2010 is a landmark in U.S. social legislation. The new law
extends health insurance to nearly all Americans, fulfilling a
century-long quest and bringing the United States to parity with other
industrial nations. Affordable Care aims to control rapidly rising
health care costs and promises to make the United States more equal,
reversing four decades of rising disparities between the very rich and
everyone else. Millions of people of modest means will gain new benefits
and protections from insurance company abuses—and the tab will be
paid by privileged corporations and the very rich.
How did such a
bold reform effort pass in a polity wracked by partisan divisions and
intense lobbying by special interests? What does Affordable Care mean—and what comes next? In Health Care Reform and American Politics: What
Everyone Needs to Know, Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol—two of the
nation's leading experts on politics and health care policy—provide a
concise and accessible overview. They explain the political battles of
2009 and 2010, highlighting White House strategies, the deals Democrats
cut with interest groups, and the impact of agitation by Tea Partiers
and progressives. Jacobs and Skocpol spell out what the new law can do
for everyday Americans, what it will cost, and who will pay. Above all,
they explain what comes next, as critical yet often behind-the-scenes
battles rage over implementing reform nationally and in the fifty
states. Affordable Care might end up being weakened. But, like Social
Security and Medicare, it could also gain strength and popularity as the
majority of Americans learn what it can do for them.