Making America Healthier The Affordable Care Act and Civic Renewal

Health reform didn't just expand coverage, it reshaped American politics. The Affordable Care Act's journey reveals how inclusive policy can build public trust, soften partisan divides, and redefine civic engagement.

Can a bold new social program foster a supportive constituency that helps sustain it over time, even as it is buffeted by political turbulence and forces of opposition? Making America Healthier reveals the extraordinary story of the Affordable Care Act that has never been told, and its refreshing lessons for the political storms of our times. After President Barack Obama signed it into law in 2010, health reform expanded coverage to millions of Americans. Its arrival also generated surprisingly uplifting effects. The widening distribution of tangible health benefits diminished partisan polarization by increasing support among many Americans, including Republican voters and lawmakers who once opposed the passage of reform. The Affordable Care Act lifted the confidence of beneficiaries that the government will respond to them--a remarkable easing of the pervasive distrust of government. After years of protecting the sick and reassuring the well, health reform is now birthing an astonishing recognition of a collective responsibility for the well-being of our communities.

Making America Healthier departs from the tendency of political observers and journalists to treat lawmaking in Washington as a kind of one-off scorecard of winners and losers. Instead, we closely tracked the topsy-turvy journey--and public reaction--from the Affordable Care Act's launch in 2010 through years of fiery political opposition, fraught implementation, and judicial obstacles, to its growing acceptance and appreciation as it transformed the lives of more and more Americans.

Lawrence R. Jacobs is an American political scientist and founder and director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance (CSPG) at the University of Minnesota. He is the McKnight Presidential Chair in Political Science and the Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for Political Studies in Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Jacobs has written or edited, alone or collaboratively, 18 books and over 100 scholarly articles in addition to numerous reports and media essays on American democracy, health care reform, national elections, political communications, and economic inequality. His latest books are Picking Winners: Citizenship, Central Banks, and Consumer Finance and Democracy Under Fire: Donald Trump and the Breaking of American History. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Social Insurance and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Ling Zhu is Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. Her research has appeared in American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, American Journal of Public Health, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and Policy Studies Journal, among others.

Suzanne Mettler is the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions in the Government Department at Cornell University. She is the author or co-author of eight books, most recently Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide that Threatens Democracy, co-authored with Trevor Brown and Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy, with Robert C. Lieberman. She has published numerous articles in refereed journals, including the American Political Science Review and Perspectives on Politics, and op-eds and essays for popular outlets. Mettler has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and awarded Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellowships. She is the Academic Director of the Scholars Strategy Network.