136

US residents: What big domestic policy improvements have the american people won from congress in the last 30 years? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago by Hegar@kbin.social to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

68 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Interpret improvements as you like. For me it's any large scale reforms or legislative packages designed to improve the country for all or see to the material interests of the majority without overly benefiting the elite.

Any big consumer protection, environmental, infrastructure, or other legislation from Clinton onwards that materially improved the lives of all?

Obamacare and the medicaid expansion comes to my mind. It has obviously improved people's lives but considering how broken the healthcare system remains, and that it was written by the insurance industry to undermine single-payer, it seems to me a mitigated win at best.

Gay marriage and marijuana legalisation but that was the courts and the states although i'm sure the federal government could've stood in the way had they chosen to.

I've only live here since the 2010s so that's all I can think of.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

Affordable Care Act is a mixed bag. It brings insurance to the masses, but insurance is a rip off for the most part. ACA is very half baked without providing a Medicare plan buy in (public option) or forcing everyone to purchase their insurance from the exchange to increase benefits and drive prices down.

Personally I wish we just had universal healthcare/Medicare for all in the US. Hopefully I live long enough to see it.

[-] GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

The ACA isn't the end goal for sure, but it's better than where we were before. Hopefully as people get used to it, we will be more likely to pass a universal healthcare system.

[-] Mathazzar@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

The problem with the ACA was that it had to make a lot of compromises to get it through with support by Republicans. While the ACA was initially very unpopular, it's become more popular in time (if you discount rebranding efforts like Kentucky Connect being the name of the ACA marketplace there.. Then Kentucky politicians calling ACA broken but Connect good causing Connect to be popular but ACA not in that state).

It was a good effort at getting the foot in the door for universal Healthcare one day, imo.

this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023

136 points (96.6% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27281 readers

1374 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.