Great Graphic: Deconstructing the Origins of the Affordable Care Act

This Great Graphic posted by the Economist caught our attention. In previous posts, we argued that the Affordable Care Act (= Obamacare) had its origins at least 40 years ago with Richard Nixon.  A more recent incarnation was Romney's health care program in Massachusetts.  

We noted that a paper from the conservative Heritage Foundation also advocated a key element of the Affordable Care Act--the reliance on private sector providers.  This is despite the fact that through Medicare, Medicaid and Veteran Affairs, the federal government was already providing health care to roughly half of the population.  

This graphic is the result of computer analysis of the evolution of the Affordable Care Act itself.   Although no Republican voted for it, the analysis shows that Senate and House Republican ideas were important in the final shape of the Affordable Care Act.    The results are from computer-aided textual analysis by John Wilkerson and a few colleagues at the University of Wisconsin.  This allows them to trace previous bill and language that eventually was incorporated into the Affordable Care Act.

When excluding what are referred to as "mark-up bills", which are essentially amendments and legislative re-writes, Congressional and Senate Republicans provided about 11% and 28% respectively of the policy ideas that are embedded in the Affordable Care Act.

This is not to say, of course, that Obama does not own the centerpiece legislation of his two terms. Indeed, despite the embarrassing computer glitches and uncertainty about whether a sufficient number of young and healthy people will participate, Obama and the Democrats hope that the 30 million Americans that did not have health insurance remember what party secured this right (not an entitlement) for them.