Connecting Economic Systems to Current Events & Pop Culture

Health Care

Health care represents a significant part of the American economy and touches almost everyone. In 2010, the U.S. government passed a healthcare law mandating coverage for many Americans. Today, the law is the subject of rancorous debate and promises to be a major point of contention between Obama and his Republican opponent in the 2012 presidential election.

In fact, the healthcare law was controversial even before it passed. This is what columnist David Keene had to say in 2010, when the law was only a few days old: "In the days since passage, we have learned that the IRS will have to hire literally thousands of new agents, auditors and analysts to make sure everyone required to buy into the program does so and to catch those who violate its many provisions as well as to collect the data that will be required of small businesses to help the government collect new taxes to pay for the scheme."

How has the debate shifted, if at all, in the years since the government passed the law?