How a Healthcare Bill Caused A Government Shutdown

What to do about the rapid rise of healthcare costs has become a contentiously argued subject by the United States two major political parties. The finale of this debate sees us two weeks into a government shut down with a small but determined faction of ideologue republicans threatening to default on our nations debt unless President Obama scraps the biggest piece of legislation he’s gotten passed into law since his election in 2008, a healthcare bill, commonly referred to as Obamacare. The president, on the other hand, is saying he won’t pay a ransom to Congress in order for them to reopen the federal government. He’s making his case against his opponents in congress by siting his reelection as vindication that Americans overwhelmingly want this legislation to move forward. The two sides are using an overwhelming amount of social media to air their views and ideology to the American public. While the Republicans spread doubt and fear about the bill, the democrats, conversely, overselling the probable effectiveness of Obamacare. With all this information swirling around the national discussion it is difficult to know exactly what’s true about the bill and what isn’t. Perhaps the most important consequence of this political battle is that currently 500,000 government workers are out of work and not being paid while this shut down plays itself out. This furlough is not only hurting those workers and their families but also proving to have negative implications for the national economy and world stock indexes as uneasiness about the future increases. This paper will discuss the major events of the healthcare debate over the past 20 years that have brought us to this point of unprecedented government gridlock.
The modern healthcare debate started in the early nineties with the presidential election of Bill Clinton.