Premium
Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and the Long Campaign Against Social Security: Dodging the Bullet in 2012
Author(s) -
Skidmore Max J.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
poverty and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.206
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1944-2858
DOI - 10.1002/pop4.55
Subject(s) - opposition (politics) , repeal , social security , political science , presidential system , rhetoric , reagan administration , medicaid , health insurance , law , public administration , health care reform , patient protection and affordable care act , law and economics , health care , politics , sociology , health policy , philosophy , linguistics
The campaign against Social Security began as soon as the act was passed, but gathered momentum only when Ronald Reagan as early as the 1950s became a focal point for critics. Lyndon B. Johnson successfully countered the anti–Social Security/anti‐Medicare opposition, but the rhetoric from the Reagan administration paved the way for G. W. Bush's anti–Social Security efforts, and the virulent opposition to the Affordable Care Act that led to the 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's oft‐repeated statement that, as president, he would “repeal Obamacare on day one!” Much of the opposition argument has made its way into the “conventional wisdom,” even of supporters, making it especially difficult to evaluate American social insurance objectively.