Offsetting Policy Feedback Effects: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Hobbs ◽  
Daniel J. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Feedback Effects ◽  
The Affordable Care Act

scholarly journals When and How New Policy Creates New Politics: Examining the Feedback Effects of the Affordable Care Act on Public Opinion

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence R. Jacobs ◽  
Suzanne Mettler
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Feedback Effects ◽  
New Politics ◽  
The Affordable Care Act

Following E. E. Schattschneider’s observation that “a new policy creates a new politics,” scholars of “policy feedback” have theorized that policies influence subsequent political behavior and public opinion. Recent studies observe, however, that policy feedback does not always occur and the form it takes varies considerably. To explain such variation, we call for policy feedback studies to draw more thoroughly on public opinion research. We theorize that: (1) feedback effects are not ubiquitous and may in some instances be offset by political factors, such as partisanship and trust in government; (2) policy design may generate self-interested or sociotropic motivations, and (3) feedback effects result not only from policy benefits but also from burdens. We test these expectations by drawing on a unique panel study of Americans’ responses to the Affordable Care Act. We find competing policy and political pathways, which produce variations in policy feedback.

Is the Affordable Care Act Cultivating a Cross-Class Constituency? Income, Partisanship, and a Proposal for Tracing the Contingent Nature of Positive Policy Feedback Effects

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Chattopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Feedback Effects ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Nationally Representative

Abstract Social Security and Medicare enjoy strong political coalitions within the mass public because middle-class Americans believe they derive benefits from these programs and stand alongside lower-income beneficiaries in defending them from erosion. By pooling data from nine nationally representative surveys, this article examines whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is cultivating a similar cross-class constituency. The results show that middle-income Americans are less likely than low-income Americans to say the ACA has helped them personally so far. On the other hand, partisanship conditions the relationship between income and beliefs about benefits likely to be derived from the ACA in the long run. In total, the results suggest that cross-class Democratic optimism about long-run benefits may enable the ACA to reap positive beneficiary feedbacks, but a large and bipartisan cross-class constituency appears unlikely. Drawing on these results, this article also makes theoretical contributions to the policy feedback literature by underscoring the need for research on prospections' power in policy feedbacks and proposing a strategy for researchers, policy makers, and public managers to identify where partisanship intervenes in the standard policy feedback logic model, and thereby to better assess how it fragments and conditions positive feedback effects in target populations.

The Affordable Care Act and Mass Policy Feedbacks

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-580
Author(s):  
Andrea Louise Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Causal Models ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Feedback Effects ◽  
Policy Effects ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Empirical Approaches

Abstract The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has allowed researchers to examine mass policy feedback effects—how public policies affect individuals' attitudes and political behaviors—in real time while using causal models. These efforts help address criticisms of the extant feedbacks literature and have revealed new policy feedback effects and new information on the conditions under which policy feedbacks occur. The ACA case also raises empirical and theoretical questions about the types of data needed to assess feedback effects, the magnitude of policy effects required for detection, the time frame in which feedbacks occur, and the suitability of various empirical approaches for assessing policy feedback effects. Thus, the ACA not only adds an important empirical case to the study of policy feedbacks but also helps refine policy feedback theory.

Trends in State-Level Opinions toward the Affordable Care Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 737-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianna Pacheco ◽  
Elizabeth Maltby
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Public Support ◽  
State Level ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Slow Progression ◽  
The Affordable Care Act

Abstract Context: This article argues that the devolution of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to the states contributed to the slow progression of national public support for health care reform. Methods: Using small-area estimation techniques, the authors measured quarterly state ACA attitudes on five topics from 2009 to the start of the 2016 presidential election. Findings: Public support for the ACA increased after gubernatorial announcement of state-based exchanges. However, the adoption of federal or partnership marketplaces had virtually no effect on public opinion of the ACA and, in some cases, even decreased positive perceptions. Conclusions: The authors' analyses point to the complexities in mass preferences toward the ACA and policy feedback more generally. The slow movement of national ACA support was due partly to state-level variations in policy making. The findings suggest that, as time progresses, attitudes in Republican-leaning states with state-based marketplaces will become more positive toward the ACA, presumably as residents begin to experience the positive effects of the law. More broadly, this work highlights the importance of looking at state-level variations in opinions and policies.

scholarly journals How Intense Policy Demanders Shape Postreform Politics: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Rocco ◽  
Simon F. Haeder
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
State Level ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Affordable Care Act

Abstract The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a politically volatile process. The ACA's institutional design and delayed feedback effects created a window of opportunity for its partisan opponents to launch challenges at both the federal and state level. Yet as recent research suggests, postreform politics depends on more than policy feedback alone; rather, it is shaped by the partisan and interest-group environment. We argue that “intense policy demanders” played an important role in defining the policy alternatives that comprised congressional Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace the ACA. To test this argument, we drew on an original data set of bill introductions in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2016. Our analysis suggests that business contributions and political ideology affected the likelihood that House Republicans would introduce measures repealing significant portions of the ACA. A secondary analysis shows that intense policy demanders also shaped the vote on House Republicans' initial ACA replacement plan. These findings highlight the role intense policy demanders can play in shaping the postreform political agenda.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document