Respond to the following statement in the context of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), taking into consideration the results of the 2016 election and its immediate aftermath as the Republican majority jockeyed to enhance its power and promote its philosophical beliefs.
The suppliers of legislative benefits are legislators, and their pri- mary goal is to be re-elected. Thus, legislators need to maximize their chances for re-election, which requires political support.
Legislators are assumed to be rational and to make cost–benefit calculations when faced with demands for legislation. However, the legislator’s cost–benefit calculations are not the cost–benefits to society of enacting particular legislation. Instead, the benefits are the additional political support the legislator would receive from supporting legislation and the lost political support they would incur as a result of their action.
When the benefit to leg- islators (positive political support) exceeds their costs (negative political support) they will support the legislation. (Feldstein, 2006, p. 10)
a. Consider how the cost–benefit analysis depicted in the statement affected efforts to repeal/replace the ACA.
b. Discuss how the cost–benefit analysis depicted in the statement did or did not affect decisions made by states about whether to expand Medicaid eligibility as allowed by the ACA but put in jeopardy by
55Discussion
