Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or “Obamacare,” was introduced, Republicans have tried to repeal it. But what exactly is The Affordable Care Act and why are so many people against it?

The Affordable Care Act was enacted on March 23, 2010. A few of the provisions included: allowing children to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they are 26, expanding Medicaid and employer health insurance coverage, and allowing insurance coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

This did put America a step closer to achieving universal health care, a feat most developed countries have achieved decades ago. Even President Trump has vowed for “insurance for everybody.”

There are, however, some glaring issues with The Affordable Care Act, no matter what side of the aisle one is from.

“It alienated a lot of physicians because of the way it controlled pay out to physicians, especially your specialty physicians,” Melinda Lawson, a teacher in the Biomedical Academy and an Advanced Practice Nurse, said. “Ideally in the past, insurance groups reimbursed specialty groups at a higher rate, so it changed that landscape some so you had a lot of physicians who went into retirement.”

In fact, a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that only 3.2% of doctors give ACA an “A” grade.

Urologist Brian Hill told CNN, “We’re losing the focus of who we’re supposed to be taking care of: the patient. You’re not my customer anymore. Now, I’ve got to respond to the federal bureaucracy, not you.”

House Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal aspects of ACA and President Trump signed an executive order that “gave federal agencies wide latitude to change, delay or waive provisions of the law that they deemed overly costly for insurers, drug makers, doctors, patients or states, suggesting that it could have wide-ranging impact, and essentially allowing the dismantling of the law to begin even before Congress moves to repeal it,” according to the NY Times.

This has left many citizens worried about the future of their health insurance, which if occurring, would leave 18 million Americans without insurance.

“If the after 26 policy [of a child being covered on their parent’s health insurance] is repealed, if you do want to continue your education after your bachelor’s, such as if you’re in medical school or getting your masters, how can you pay for it?” Zachary Johnson, a junior in the Health Science program, said.

While Republican lawmakers have pledged to keep aspects such as being covered by a parent’s insurance until that child turns 26, there has been no policy introduced to replace ACA. And not only would millions of Americans lose their insurance, but also lose up to 3 million jobs.

“Currently, we have a lot of people who were able to get insurance under the Affordable Care Act, while it may not be perfect, they have insurance. If we repeal it with nothing to replace it, it will be a disaster,” Lawson stated.

While most Americans agree that repealing without replacing would be detrimental, there is a positive to repealing the act. Ending the Affordable Care Act could reduce the gross state product from 2019 to 2023 by 1.5 trillion dollars.

Junior Iman Gadalla said, “Instead, I think it [The Affordable Care Act] should be reformed to where it can be better implemented – having Congress classify healthcare as interstate commerce and be able to control it so insurance companies don’t raise their prices so much and have a price ceiling for different types of services.”

Lawson believes the issue lies elsewhere, “I would love to see more healthcare professionals working on a policy instead of politicians.”

In fact, both of Obama’s secretaries for the Department of Health and Human Services were not educated or had ever worked in the health/medical industry, while Trump’s cabinet nominee, Tom Price, is an orthopedic surgeon and Georgia congressman.

Tom Price is an adamant supporter of repealing The Affordable Care Act and has introduced his own act: The Empowering Patients First Act. While this has shown to be largely unfavorable on the House floor, he is soon to be confirmed as the head of HHS.
The Affordable Care Act also previously had low favorability ratings,  but a CNN/ORC poll revealed that 49% of Americans support The Affordable Care Act and 47% oppose it, so whether it is repealed, replaced, or expanded, the future of American favorability towards healthcare provisions is an uncertain one.