Introduction
Healthcare Bill 2010, also known as Obamacare has remained one of the most controversial issues in the American society for the past four years. A section of the society strongly believes that this Bill came at the appropriate time when people needed affordable quality healthcare for all the Americans irrespective of their financial capacities.
On the other hand, a section of the society members believe that this was a retrogressive Bill that was designed to punish the hard-working Americans. This debate has been raging on for years, and it has been difficult to come up with a convincing explanation for either of the two differing opinions. This research seeks to analyze this issue with the aim of finding the truth about the impact of Obamacare to the lives of the citizens of the American society.
Discussion
Healthcare is one of the basic needs within a country, and the citizens of this country always expect the government to come up with policies focused on improving it. The current regime came up with the Healthcare Bill 2010, and it would be important to determine if it meets the expectations of the society. The research seeks to find an answer the following question.
Was Obamacare relevant in improving health standards in the American society?
In responding to the above question, the researcher will use two contemporary theories in order to help explain why different people have taken different approaches when analyzing this Bill.
Conflict theory is one of the most appropriate theories that can be used to explain why different people have taken different approaches when analyzing this Bill. Johnson (2008) says, “Conflict theory emphasizes the role of coercion and power in producing social order.” This scholar explains that this theory has generally been associated by governments when trying to come up with policies considered unpopular.
Those who have been critical of this Bill have always believed that because of the influence had on the congress, he was able to prevail upon it to ensure that the Bill sails through without much opposition. This is despite the contradicting views that a section of the society had towards the Bill. As explained in Conflict theory holds that coercion and power can be used to bring social order.
As the president of the United States, Obama was convinced that it was necessary to have a Healthcare Bill that was able to cater for all the American citizens irrespective of their financial backgrounds. However, he was aware that a section of the society were opposed to it, especially the elites who considered this move as a way through which the government would force them to help in paying healthcare cost for the poor.
Given that the elites are influential, they managed to convince the society against the Bill. However, it was able to sail through the Congress, and the president assented to it immediately. This displeased those who were opposed to it as they considered that the government used its power to coerce them to accept this Bill.
According to Tate (2012), many Americans who have been criticizing this Bill may not have substantial reason to consider the Bill inappropriate. However, they feel that they were coerced by the government, and this has made then very keen on identifying any convincing mistake from the Bill. The figure below shows a report by one of the journalists showing the rising cost of Obamacare.
Source (Tate, 2012)
Such critics have failed to be objective in their analysis of this Bill. It is a fact that this Bill has a number of weaknesses that needs to be addressed. One of the obvious disadvantages that this Bill had was the increased taxation it brought on Americans. However, we should take an objective approach; analyze both the benefits and the weaknesses of the Bill in order to come up with a way forward in its implementation process.
Critical theory is another appropriate theory that can be used in explaining why this Bill has had varying views in this society. Buchanan (2010) says, “Critical theory is a type of social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only to understanding or explaining it.”
This theory focuses critiques that are meant to change the way of thinking, or the approach taken by members of the society towards a given issue. A section of the society has taken this approach with this Bill. As mentioned above, the above Bill may not be the best that this country could have. Close to half of the Americans do not approve of this Bill (Tate, 2012).
However, the most important thing is to define the way forward and find a way in which the Bill can be beneficial instead of being oppressive to the Americans. Taking the critical theory approach in analyzing this Bill, it is clear that Obamacare was a bill that was well-intended to help the poor members of the society who are unable to get access to affordable healthcare within the country. America remains the most admired nation in the world, and the government has been keen to ensure that the country remains attractive.
This country has the largest economy in the world, and the country has been extending a lot of support to various countries around the world. It is therefore, unfortunate that in this land of plenty resources, a section of the society are still dying of simple diseases because they cannot afford medical costs.
This means that there is no difference between this society and that of the third world countries where such incidents are common. The Bill was intended to eradicate this. When using Critical Theory to analyze the Bill, it would be clear that the main problem has been the implementation and the attitude of the members of the society. A section of the society members have made a lot of effort to frustrate proper implementation of the Bill.
Both the Conflict Theory and Critical Theory looks at some of the weaknesses of this Bill to the society. However, while critical theory seeks to find an approach that can be used to make the Bill more beneficial to the society, the focus of Conflict Theory is to find justifications to reject the Bill.
Conclusion
The analysis of Obamacare reveals that people have taken different approaches when analyzing this Bill based on what they want to believe. The two theories explain why we have different views on the Bill. However, the fact is that Obamacare was relevant in improving health standards in the American society if the implementation is done appropriately.
References
Buchanan, I. (2010). A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, D. P. (2008). Contemporary sociological theory: An integrated multi-level approach. New York: Springer.
Tate, N. J. (2012). ObamaCare survival guide. West Palm Beach: Humanix Books.