Priya Ranade
Assignment A: Framing Memo on the Individual Mandate in the Affordable Care Act of 2010
Introduction:
For years, America has struggled to resolve the problem of uninsured patients in the United States healthcare system. Under President Obama’s administration, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed in March of 2010. There has been considerable debate regarding many of the provisions in this law. Although this policy was passed nearly six years ago, it is still a subject of controversy. Many in the Republican Party are supporting efforts to repeal the law. One of the most controversial stipulations in this law is an individual mandate requiring employers with 50 or more employees to buy health insurance for their workers. Under this condition, employees that do not purchase insurance for their workers will have to pay a large fine for their failure to comply with the law. The payment of the fine depends on several factors including the total number of individuals in a household that are uninsured1. Opponents of the law believe that the Affordable Care Act infringes on freedom; Americans should be able to choose how they want to spend their hard-earned money, and should not be fined if they decide not to buy health insurance. Proponents of the individual mandate believe that the rising costs of healthcare is a problem for every American, and the individual mandate will guarantee insurance for all while decreasing the total amount of capital spent on healthcare5. This composition explores how the supporting and opposing sides frame their arguments.
Methods:
The frames for the supporting and opposing viewpoints of the individual mandate were obtained by examining newspaper articles from the online database LexisNexis, advocacy group websites, and social media posts. The keywords used included in Google, Facebook, and Twitter searches include