peer responses

Respond one of your colleagues’ posts by offering a possible resolution to their  questions/concerns with supporting documentation.

at least 2 references in each peer responses

 

A cost-benefit analysis is an estimate that analyzes the cost and benefit of a policy or project to evaluate its worth (Hwang, 2016). For lawmakers, the value of a political decision is measured by votes gained compared to votes loss. The fear of being voted out of office definitely played a role in derailing the efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The pushed to repeal and replace ACA begin to heat up after President Trump was sworn into office as a part of his campaign promise. Many Americans are divided on the issue, with the growing majority against the repeal and replace proposal (Milstead & Short, 2019). The divide creates a challenging decision for politicians hoping to get reelected in the battleground states. The problem arises because no political spin can deny that more people are covered since the passing of ACA, and the repeal of ACA would cause millions of Americans to lose coverage (Grogan, 2017).

The decision made by legislative leaders are affected by the views of the voters if it poses a threat to the leaders reelection. While having control of both houses in congress republicans were still leary about voting on issues that impacted Medicaid and Medicare (Mistead and Short, 2019). The issue of healthcare is one that exposes all the tricks and tactics that make up politics. The proceed with caution mood looming over political decisions related to healthcare indicate that politicians care more about being reelected than the issue itself (Mistead and Short, 2019). It is a logical strategy. Elected officials have all made the claim that their purpose is to represent the people. Legislative leaders are so worried about the blow back from a decision affect their reelection that it was even suggested that they should repeal ACA symbolically without actually changing anything (Leonard, 2017).

The cost-benefit analysis was originally a political tactic used to discredit regulatory programs (Sinden, 2019). According to Sinden (2019), the cost of implementing project would be inflated over the value of the benefit to devalue the benefit of the regulation. According to Cole (2012), CBAs are subjective, and the value human lives can easily be manipulated and discounted to promote or denounce regulations. In the case of our legislative leaders, the vote is more valuable than a human life.