October 1, 2013

A central provision of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” went into effect today amid a general shutdown of the U.S. government. Federal and state-run insurance exchanges opened for business this morning. As many as 7 million uninsured Americans are eligible to buy affordable health insurance on these exchanges.

Condemning the Affordable Care act as an unprecedented intrusion into Americans’ private lives, Congressional Republicans waged a years-long campaign to undermine it. The latest effort led to today’s government shutdown. A number of Republicans in the House of Representatives, in particular the Tea Party caucus, demanded that the law be repealed or stripped of funding as a condition for continuing to fund the government. The Senate refused to pass the House bill, and House leaders refused to even bring the Senate-approved budget up for a vote. (Political experts note that the Senate bill would have passed in the House, largely with Democratic votes, if it had been brought to the House floor by Speaker John Boehner. They suggest, however, that if Boehner had brought the Senate bill up for a vote in defiance of the Tea Party caucus, his action would have cost him his position as speaker of the House.)

With no new budget or budget extension in place, the U.S. government shut down this morning at 12:01 a.m. At least 800,000 federal employees will likely be sent home without pay as many government agencies prepared to close their doors. More than 1 million others will be asked to work without pay. President Barack Obama signed legislation late on September 30 ensuring that uniformed members of the military will be paid during the shutdown. The 533 current members of Congress will also receive their paychecks.

The shut down of the U.S federal government on October 1 led to the closing of national parks and monuments across the nation (c George Goodwin, Monkmeyer).

Republicans in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the country, have battled to repeal the health care law since its passage in 2010. The House of Representatives took 40-some symbolic votes to nullify it or eliminate its funding. Legal challenges led by Republican governors ended in June 2012 when the Supreme Court validated its most controversial provision: the individual mandate, which specifies that Americans not receiving health coverage from their employers or from the government must purchase individual plans or pay a fine.

Several provisions of “Obamacare” went into effect prior to today: children can now remain on their parents’ insurance plans up to age 26; children with pre-existing health conditions can no longer be denied coverage; senior citizens now enjoy prescription drug discounts; and insurance companies can no longer place lifetime limits on health coverage. Another major provision—the employer mandate—requires employers with at least 50 full-time workers to provide insurance or incur a $2,000 per employee penalty. Implementation of that provision has been delayed until 2015.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congress of the United States 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Health Care Reform–What’s in it for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)