The Affordable Care Act— also sometimes known as “Obamacare”— is one of the most important defining features of the Obama administration, and one of the first things that has been done by the Trump administration is an attempted dismantling of the programs that Obama so carefully designed to protect the American people’s right to healthcare (Kodjak, 2017). From a policy perspective, dismantling Obamacare will be a long and arduous process for President-elect Trump; it is likely to be a difficult process, made worse by the extensive cost associated with re-working the insurance system yet again (Pear, 2017). Nearly everyone, regardless of political affiliation, has an interest in the outcome of the political infighting associated with the Affordable Care Act; the purpose of this discussion will be to assess the role of public opinion as it relates to the Affordable Care Act today.
The media has long has the ability to sway public opinion by providing information more heavily in one direction politically or another; bias in media is, of course, nothing new, and just as President Obama’s efforts to implement the Affordable Care Act were met with resistance, so too will the attempts to dismantle it be met with resistance (Jaspen, 2017). However, upon searching the major news outlets in the United States for information regarding public opinion on the repeal or continuation of the Affordable Care Act, a number of interesting features to the discussion were discovered.
First and foremost, even the most liberal news sources— that is, news sources that can be considered liberal but still on the trustworthy end of news reporting— are hesitant to call the new policies towards the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act as “unpopular.” Indeed, even Kodjak (2017), writing for National Public Radio, one of the most liberal mainstream news sources, notes that the reception to Trump’s potential cut of the Affordable Care Act has been mixed (Kodjak, 2017). The news that has been presented regarding the new policies towards healthcare have been remarkably neutral considering how divisive the issue is.
In this case, it seems as though the very divisive public opinion— with half the country very firmly in the “pro” camp and half very firmly in the “against” camp for the Affordable Care Act— the media has been walking a very fine line between disapproving of these policies to dismantle the Act (Pear, 2017; Jaspen, 2017; Kodjak, 2017). In the current political climate, everything is very uncertain, and by failing to make a strong statement for or against these policies, it seems almost as though many members of the media are waiting for public opinion to become more clear before making a decisive stance either way. It is a very interesting political situation, and the outcome will be largely governed by public opinion, rather than public opinion being informed by the media (Pear, 2017; Jaspen, 2017; Kodjak, 2017).
The current political climate has set the stage for interesting intersectionality between the public and the media. It seems as though the American people are largely itching for some kind of change, and the media has perceived this need for change but does not yet know how to respond to this need for change; instead of making decisive statements regarding how to feel about the Affordable Care Act, the media is reporting stories that are vaguely positive or negative to feel out public opinion for the future.
References
Japsen, B. (2017). As Obamacare Repeal Looms, Hospitals Brace For Job Losses. Forbes.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2017/01/08/as-obamacare-repeal-looms-hospitals-brace-for-job-losses/#3f3e9c8929b6
Kodjak, A. (2017). Obamacare Is First Item On Congress' Chopping Block. NPR.org. Retrieved 8 January 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/01/02/506446779/obamacare-is-first-item-on-congress-chopping-block
Pear, R. (2017). Republicans’ 4-Step Plan to Repeal the Affordable Care Act. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/us/affordable-care-act-congress-repeal-plan.html?_r=0
