The Obama administration created the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to be able to provide a more suitable and available health care plan to Americans; this was achieved with the Democratic party in the majority for both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Republican party has built its platform on trying to get ACA repealed; however, they have a majority in both houses of Congress and have taken control of the executive branch but have not been able to repeal and replace Obamacare. The measures taken to repeal Obamacare have failed because of the party’s majority opinion of the health care plan and factions in the party.
In 2008 during the Obama administration, the Democratic party had a majority in the House of Representatives and
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This is because of popular opinion as the public wants to keep the ACA since repealing it would be detrimental to 22 million Americans. Also, the party only has fifty-two members in the Senate which is not enough to repeal the bill in full. This has not stopped the Republican party from trying to repeal it; they have tried to block the full implementation of it through budget reconciliation, which is cutting spending from entitlement programs and improving the tax system. This attempt was tried because it only requires a simple majority which is exactly what the Republicans have in the Senate. Another attempt to block the ACA was the MacArthur amendment; this is when people with pre-existing conditions would not be denied coverage, but they would have to pay more if they let their coverage slip and if they live in states that does not cover protection for people with pre-existing conditions. Members of the party have begun to feel as if this amendment “pushes the bill too far right – even though it is far short of a full repeal” (Byron York). It has also been difficult for the Republicans to repeal ACA fully because of factions in the party. Moderate Republicans, which hold fifty seats in Congress, do not want the ACA repealed and they have been voting against repealing it which is also hindering the party’s goals. According to Byron York, “it's becoming increasingly clear that Republicans have not repealed Obamacare because a lot of Republicans do not want to repeal Obamacare.” Another reason that the repeal has been difficult was stated by Dan Diamond, “sixteen states led by Republicans are receiving billions of dollars in Medicaid funds that are available under the law, which they could lose if Congress rolls back the ACA.” This shows that even when the Republican party can control two branches of