2026 Election Issues Series — Part I Over the past few years, everyday life for many American families has quietly but unmistakably changed. A routine trip to the grocery store now comes with a moment of hesitation at the checkout counter. Rent renewal notices often arrive with unwelcome increases. Child‑care tuition has reached a levelContinue reading “Why Does Life Feel More Expensive? The Core Issue America Can’t Escape in the 2026 Election”
Tag Archives: healthcare
ACA Subsidies Are Set to Expire: Three Possible Paths in the December Vote—and What They Reveal About the State of U.S. Health Reform
As 2025 draws to a close, the question of whether Congress will renew the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium subsidies in December has once again pushed U.S. health-care reform to the center of national politics. If the subsidies expire, more than 24 million people are expected to face steep premium increases in 2026, andContinue reading “ACA Subsidies Are Set to Expire: Three Possible Paths in the December Vote—and What They Reveal About the State of U.S. Health Reform”
ACA at a Crossroads: Ideological Battlefield or a Long-Overdue Structural Reckoning?
For more than a decade, few public policies have occupied the center of America’s political battles quite like the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Since its passage in 2010, the ACA has become a symbol of partisan division: conservatives frame it as the epitome of “big government overreach,” while liberals see it as “the closest theContinue reading “ACA at a Crossroads: Ideological Battlefield or a Long-Overdue Structural Reckoning?”
Why U.S. Health Care Reform Never Moves Forward: The Political–Economic Iron Chain
— A Follow-up to The ACA: Past and Present Discussing health care reform in the United States often feels like debating a problem that is “theoretically solvable but practically unsolvable.” In the previous article, we reviewed the ACA’s historical trajectory and institutional design. But if we ask: Why has the ACA never been fully repaired?Continue reading “Why U.S. Health Care Reform Never Moves Forward: The Political–Economic Iron Chain”
The Rise and Limits of the ACA: From a Desert of Care to a System at a Crossroads
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) did more than reshape the American insurance market—it altered the lives of millions. To understand why the ACA remains both indispensable and fundamentally fragile, we must look back at the landscape before its passage, the revolution it initiated, the critical flaws built into its design, and the pathways the UnitedContinue reading “The Rise and Limits of the ACA: From a Desert of Care to a System at a Crossroads”
The Anxious Generation and the Collapse of Healthcare Trust
— When ACA Subsidies Shrink, Where Will America’s Future Generation Turn for Care? — Young People’s Anxiety Is More Than Economic In today’s America, the term “anxious generation” has become almost a sociological label. Young adults are burdened with student loans, rising rents, and stagnant wages—surrounded by the pressure of costs increasing faster than opportunity.Continue reading “The Anxious Generation and the Collapse of Healthcare Trust”
What Americans Stand to Lose if the ACA Premium Tax Credits Expire
— From “Affordable Healthcare” to the Cost of Survival — From “Affordable” to “Out of Reach” The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed with a simple promise: that every American should have access to affordable healthcare. At the heart of that promise lies the premium tax credit—a subsidy that allows low- and middle-income families, self-employedContinue reading “What Americans Stand to Lose if the ACA Premium Tax Credits Expire”
I’m Working, But the System Says I’m Not “Qualified”
— How Workers Outside the System May Lose Medicaid Under the One Big Beautiful Bill She Isn’t Unemployed—She Just Doesn’t Fit the System’s Definition of Work Mrs. Liang, 45, works as a self-employed home cleaner in Las Vegas. She supports her family of three through hourly residential cleaning jobs. She has legal status and filesContinue reading “I’m Working, But the System Says I’m Not “Qualified””
Highest Health Spending in the World, Yet No Universal Coverage in America
— 17.2% of GDP Spent on Healthcare, Yet Tens of Millions Remain Uninsured In 2024, healthcare spending in the United States once again reached a staggering 17.2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest in the world. This means that the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other country on earth. Yet paradoxically,Continue reading “Highest Health Spending in the World, Yet No Universal Coverage in America”
Holding a Green Card, But Shut Out of Care
— A Chinese Immigrant Father’s Reflection on the ‘One Big and Beautiful Bill Act’ On July 4th, as fireworks lit up the sky and my child waved a small flag, I found myself unable to celebrate. Just the day before, Congress passed the “One Big and Beautiful Bill Act”(OBBBA), and the President signed it intoContinue reading “Holding a Green Card, But Shut Out of Care”
