I’ve been reading and watching a lot of end of the year coverage and regardless of viewpoint everyone uses the term Obamacare instead of the Affordable Care Act or ACA. I realize this horse is already out of the barn (feeling vaguely rural right now) but the ACA was dubbed Obamacare by its opponents. It’s gotten to the point where many supporters of health care reform call it that as well. I wish they wouldn’t. That label is a way to make the ACA seem temporary when it’s here to stay. We don’t call Medicare, Johnsoncare or Truman-wanted-it-care, after all. In the UK nobody calls the National Health Service Atleecare or Bevincare. I suppose I should file this away under lost causes but it still makes me grind my teeth and enamel is a terrible thing to lose.
Oh well, what the hell. I’ll give the Kinks the last word:
Fear not; as soon as “that man” is out of the Republicans’ White House, some of the vitriol will finally ooze away. And, as the more desirable elements of the Affordable Care Act begin taking effect, Republicans will flee from the “Obamacare” label slightly faster than rats from a sinking ship. Don’t be shocked to see the current ACA/Obamacare rubric turned on its head in 2015 or so, as the memory of denials for pre-existing conditions and caps on benefits fades.
Totally agree with gratuitous. The only question is how long it will take for the GOP to label as “racist” anyone that refers to the ACA as “Obamacare”.
When the White House decided to embrace the term Obamacare I stopped sweating it. I use both ACA and Obamacare, depending on my audience.