A recent CNBC poll found that more Americans opposed ObamaCare than the Affordable Care Act. In addition more Americans supported Obamacare than the Affordable Care Act. This contradiction is further confusing when you consider that ObamaCare and the Affordable Care Act are one and the same Act.
The reasons for these strange findings can most likely be attributed to the ill-informed nature of the Americans polled but CNBC also believes that Obama’s name raises positives and negatives with the public. It is this Affordable Care Act that has been the source of the recent political turbulence in the United States which resulted in the 16 day government shutdown.
Since 1 October the United States government was held to ransom by political squabbling in the Senate. Republican Party members wanted to force President Obama and the Democratic Party to give concessions regarding the Affordable Healthcare Act.
When a budget resolution had to be passed before October, the Republicans used the opportunity to try and force the Democrats, hand. The Democrats however believed that should the resolution not be passed and certain government divisions are temporarily shut down, that the Republicans would face the brunt of the blame. This assumption turned out to hold true – the Republican Party took a substantial blow in the polls.
The result of the shutdown is that the “Affordable Care Act” (aka ObamaCare) is not materially changed at all. The only provision included is to make sure that individuals taking advantage of subsidies under the Act, do not misrepresent their incomes in order to fraudulently claim more than they are entitled to. This is not a material change and it can be argued that the Republicans failed miserably to achieve their desired goals.
Those government employees temporarily out of work have been reimbursed the wages they did not receive during the shutdown. The deal reached may still leave them with some sleepless nights however. The next government funding deadline will be on the 15th of January 2014. The debt ceiling has been raised sufficiently to delay further problems until the 7th of February 2014.
While we wait for the next round of drama from the United States’ political scene, the financial markets are enjoying a period where tapering of the Federal Reserve’s Asset Purchasing Programme has not yet come to fruition. The worries surrounding a potential US default have been allayed…. for the time being!
