Why Republicans hate Obamacare
Why is the Affordable Care Act so despised by so many conservatives?
By M.J.
IT HAS been called “the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed”, “as destructive to personal and individual liberties as the Fugitive Slave Act” and a killer of women, children and old people. According to Republican lawmakers, the sources of each of these quotes, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, is a terrible thing. Since it was passed by a Democratic Congress in 2009, it has been the bête noire of the Republicans. The party has pushed more than 60 unsuccessful Congressional votes to defeat it, while the Supreme Court has been forced to debate it four times in the act’s short history. Obamacare was also at the heart of the two-week government shutdown in 2013. Why does the ACA attract such opprobrium from the right?
More from The Economist explains
Would legal doping change the Olympics?
The impact would be smaller—and worse—than proponents of drug-taking claim
Do vice-presidential picks matter?
If they have any effect on an election’s result, it is at the margins
What led to the bitter controversy over an Olympics boxing match?
A mighty punch by an Algerian boxer has revived a politically charged dispute
Is this the end of Project 2025, the plan that riled Donald Trump?
The right-wing blueprint for governing has taken centre-stage in America’s presidential campaign
Who should control Western Sahara?
France becomes the latest country to back Morocco’s claim
Who are the Druze, the victims of a deadly strike on Israel?
The religious minority has often been caught up in regional crossfire in the Middle East