Ever since then President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare), the Republican Party has made it their #1 goal to destroy the healthcare reform law before it has the opportunity to achieve success. Congressional Republicans filled the airwaves with lies about the ACA - anything from it including "death panels" to it being a government takeover and beyond. While all these egregious misstatements were called out by fact-checkers, sadly, the GOPers' heated rhetoric, at least temporarily, got the best of Democrats' even-keeled tone and fact-checking. This led to a majority of the country disapproving of the healthcare bill without knowing what was in it. Even today, a decent number of self-described Republicans believe that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are different laws, when in fact they're one and the same. This is what misinformation has done to this country, and ironically enough, the largest propagator of fake news is the Republican Party and their conservative media outlets.
As anyone who's taken a psychology course should know, the mere-exposure effect takes place when, regardless of the accuracy of a claim, a statement is uttered in such great frequency, it starts becoming regarded as fact. This has nowhere been more the case than with the GOP and the ACA. They've said such disparaging things about the bill, and in such great numbers, many of their voters have started to take said claims as common knowledge, when they're anything but. The fact of the matter is the Affordable Care Act is anything but perfect. However, the more telling fact is that the U.S. healthcare system was broken prior to the ACA's passage, and repealing Obamacare will do anything but improve the welfare of this country.
Prior to the ACA's passage, 47 million people were uninsured in this country. On top of that, between the years of 1999 and 2009, premiums increased by an average of 53% per year. After the ACA's full implementation, the number of uninsured in this country has dropped to 27 million, and while premiums have continued to increase, they've increased by an average of 26% per year, down 27% from the previous ten years. In states where governors have made use of all that the ACA has had to offer, they've seen much more positive impacts of the bill than in those who didn't, most of whom were/are Republicans.
Let's cut right to the chase here - the GOP's 7-year hatred of Obamacare is purely political. They simply don't want Barack Obama's signature legislation to succeed, because if it does, it could aid Democrats like himself in getting elected and reelected for years to come. They've lied the world over about the Affordable Care Act, brainwashed their constituents into believing the ACA is something that it's not, have done the bare minimum in utilizing all that the law has to offer, and instigated market uncertainty by continually trying to repeal the bill, which has largely aided to the increase in premiums. With few exceptions, Republican leaders have placed party over country, greed over health, and themselves over American values and ideals. While the ACA is far from perfect, it has cut premium increases in half and provided 20 million more people with health insurance. Lord knows how much more success it would have achieved had the Republican Party not attempted to stand in its way. No, GOPers, Obamacare isn't the problem. The problem is you.
As anyone who's taken a psychology course should know, the mere-exposure effect takes place when, regardless of the accuracy of a claim, a statement is uttered in such great frequency, it starts becoming regarded as fact. This has nowhere been more the case than with the GOP and the ACA. They've said such disparaging things about the bill, and in such great numbers, many of their voters have started to take said claims as common knowledge, when they're anything but. The fact of the matter is the Affordable Care Act is anything but perfect. However, the more telling fact is that the U.S. healthcare system was broken prior to the ACA's passage, and repealing Obamacare will do anything but improve the welfare of this country.
Prior to the ACA's passage, 47 million people were uninsured in this country. On top of that, between the years of 1999 and 2009, premiums increased by an average of 53% per year. After the ACA's full implementation, the number of uninsured in this country has dropped to 27 million, and while premiums have continued to increase, they've increased by an average of 26% per year, down 27% from the previous ten years. In states where governors have made use of all that the ACA has had to offer, they've seen much more positive impacts of the bill than in those who didn't, most of whom were/are Republicans.
Let's cut right to the chase here - the GOP's 7-year hatred of Obamacare is purely political. They simply don't want Barack Obama's signature legislation to succeed, because if it does, it could aid Democrats like himself in getting elected and reelected for years to come. They've lied the world over about the Affordable Care Act, brainwashed their constituents into believing the ACA is something that it's not, have done the bare minimum in utilizing all that the law has to offer, and instigated market uncertainty by continually trying to repeal the bill, which has largely aided to the increase in premiums. With few exceptions, Republican leaders have placed party over country, greed over health, and themselves over American values and ideals. While the ACA is far from perfect, it has cut premium increases in half and provided 20 million more people with health insurance. Lord knows how much more success it would have achieved had the Republican Party not attempted to stand in its way. No, GOPers, Obamacare isn't the problem. The problem is you.
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