5 research outputs found
Policy Feedback and the Politics of the Affordable Care Act
There is a large body of literature devoted to how âpolicies create politicsâ and how feedback effects from existing policy legacies shape potential reforms in a particular area. Although much of this literature focuses on selfâreinforcing feedback effects that increase support for existing policies over time, Kent Weaver and his colleagues have recently drawn our attention to selfâundermining effects that can gradually weaken support for such policies. The following contribution explores both selfâreinforcing and selfâundermining policy feedback in relationship to the Affordable Care Act, the most important healthâcare reform enacted in the United States since the midâ1960s. More specifically, the paper draws on the concept of policy feedback to reflect on the political fate of the ACA since its adoption in 2010. We argue that, due in part to its sheer complexity and fragmentation, the ACA generates both selfâreinforcing and selfâundermining feedback effects that, depending of the aspect of the legislation at hand, can either facilitate or impede conservative retrenchment and restructuring. Simultaneously, through a discussion of partisan effects that shape Republican behavior in Congress, we acknowledge the limits of policy feedback in the explanation of policy stability and change
Policy feedback and the politics of the Affordable Care Act
There is a large body of literature devoted to how âpolicies create politicsâ and how feedback
effects from existing policy legacies shape potential reforms in a particular area. Although much
of this literature focuses on self-reinforcing feedback effects that increase support for existing
policies over time, Kent Weaver and his colleagues have recently drawn our attention to selfundermining
effects that can gradually weaken support for such policies. The following
contribution explores both self-reinforcing and self-undermining policy feedback in relationship
to the Affordable Care Act, the most important health care reform enacted in the United States
since the mid-1960s. More specifically, the paper draws on the concept of policy feedback to
reflect on the political fate of the ACA since its adoption in 2010. We argue that, due in part to
its sheer complexity and fragmentation, the ACA generates both self-reinforcing and selfundermining
feedback effects that, depending of the aspect of the legislation at hand, can either
facilitate or impede conservative retrenchment and restructuring. Simultaneously, through a
discussion of partisan effects that shape Republican behavior in Congress, we acknowledge the
limits of policy feedback in the explanation of policy stability and change