Dysfunctional Politics of the Affordable Care Act, The

Dysfunctional Politics of the Affordable Care Act, The

While analyzing the contentious debate over health care reform, this much-needed study also challenges the argument that treating medical patients like shoppers can significantly reduce health expenditures. This revealing work focuses on the politics surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), explaining how and why supporters and opponents have approached the issue as they have since the act's passage in 2010. The first book to systematically examine public knowledge of the ACA across time, it also documents how that knowledge has remained essentially static since 2010, despite the importance of health-policy reform to every American. An important book for anyone concerned about the skyrocketing costs of health care in the United States, the work accomplishes three main tasks intended to help readers better understand one of the most important policy challenges of our time. The early chapters explain why congressional Democrats designed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 as they did, clarifies some of the consequences of the act's features, and examines why Republicans have fought the implementation of the law so fiercely. The study then looks at how the intersection of economics and politics applies to the ACA. Finally, the book details what the public knows—and doesn't know—about the law and discusses the prospects for citizens gaining the knowledge they should have about the overall issue of health-policy reform. “A comprehensive and convincing review of the politics of Obamacare. . . . This is an excellent book and well worth the read for those interested in health care or polarization more broadly. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.” ― Choice Greg M. Shaw is professor of political science at Illinois Wesleyan University. He also supports the university's public health program. Since completing a PhD at Columbia University he has written and taught mainly in areas related to American social policy, with a particular focus on health care policy. He also holds a master's degree in public health from Boston University. His published work has appeared in various journals, including Political Research Quarterly , Public Opinion Quarterly , and Political Science Quarterly , among others. He has served as a section editor at Public Opinion Quarterly . He has authored four books, including The Dysfunctional Politics of the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and Medicare and Medicaid: A Reference Handbook in 2021. He has twice been selected by students at Illinois Wesleyan as professor of the year.