Introduction to Paper by Abdulallah Arbabzadah

Abdulallah Arbabzadah

2/10/16

History 209S

Introduction     

     On March 23, 2010 an historic act was signed into law. The Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, became America’s first major successful healthcare reform law since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid under the Johnson administration. With such a radical transformation of the way healthcare was distributed to Americans many questioned whether or not it would be successful in accomplishing its goal of reducing the uninsured rate. Also questioned was why the Affordable Care Act was successful in being passed while other major healthcare reforms were not. This paper will answer the following questions: Was the Affordable Care Act successful in accomplishing its goal of reducing the uninsured rate? Why was the act successful in passage while other healthcare reform attempts were not? My thesis is the following: The Affordable Care Act was successful in accomplishing its goal in reducing the uninsured rate and it was successful in passage while other healthcare reforms were not because President Obama let Congress drive the reform effort while previous efforts were mainly pushed by the President.