Healthcare has been front and center since "Obamacare" was passed in 2010 based strictly upon party lines
with only Democrats and no Republicans supporting it. The law has been extremely controversial and has
been challenged on legal fronts over and over, with some portions of the law being declared unconstitutional
while other parts have been upheld. The repeal of the the law has been a primary goal of the Republican party
and was a major part of Pres. Trump's campaign platform and of the early part of his presidency. It does not
appear as if certain groups have the ability to fully repeal the law based upon the several failed attempts to
repeal and replace. There does appear to be a degree of hypocrisy by politicians in Washington D.C. as
Democrats have chastised Republicans for attempting to repeal the law without taking a bipartisan approach
and working with Democrats on the issue which has led to some Republicans reminding the Democrats that
they passed "Obamacare" without seeking out bipartisan support of the Republicans back in 2010.
The law has been under increased scrutiny as costs have skyrocketed for coverage and droves of people opt
out of participating in the healthcare exchanges, many of which have already failed or are failing currently.
Much has been made of the millions of people who have been covered by the law since being passed in 2010
and who now have access to affordable healthcare. Numerous states, including Texas, have sued the federal
government over the constitutionality of the law, especially since states such as Texas bear a much higher cost
for covering lower income citizens healthcare costs due to the larger numbers of people who are lower income
in a state with the second largest population in the nation as compared to smaller and more affluent states in
the north for example. Others who are in support of the law and who have benefited from "Obamacare" believe
that access to affordable care should no be optional but rather they believe it is a fundamental human right that
should not be denied based upon a person's socio-economic status. Perhaps the most vocal and ardent of
political supporters of government run healthcare as a human right have been Bernie Sanders and now
Elizabeth Warren, both of whom point to European nations as the benchmark for the U.S. to emulate, though
other Democrats have balked at the massive multi-trillion dollar price-tag such a program would cost, as well
as how exactly they plan to pay for it.
Your assignment is to attempt to briefly analyze this very complex issue based upon the questions asked
above and below. First and foremost, is healthcare a basic human right that should be guaranteed by the
government, or is access to such care an option? If you believe that it is a human right to be provided by the
government, then who is responsible for paying for it? Obamacare relies heavily upon forcing younger,
healthier, and more wealthy Americans to pay much higher rates for their insurance in order to help subsidize
lower-income Americans or pay a penalty at the end of the tax year. Should some people be forced by the
government to cover those individuals rather than do so out of a sense of their own sense of morality and
charity? Finally, has the COVID-19 pandemic altered your opinion of how healthcare should be handled? Do
you now believe that the government should be more involved in this system, or has the almost total failure of
governments around the world to adequately address the pandemic which scientists and doctors have been
warning would surely come for many years now proof that government can't handle the responsibilities it
currently has, much less the additional ones which they would undertake in a single-payer government run
healthcare system? Clearly there is no easy answer because if there was then I would assume our government
could figure this issue out. Please attempt to address the questions posed and remember to use and cite at
least one source to craft a solution to this issue.
Sample Solution