ACA or Obama Care?

Healthcare reform has been a touchy subject ever since the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obama Care.” This act concentrates on health insurance and it’s affordability. It has also been a high point of contention among Democrats and Republicans since Obama signed the law in 2010.

Because of its prevalence, both Nixon and Spence included their stances on healthcare reform and policy in their rhetoric. A local proposition also prompts candidates to talk about their views on the ACA. Proposition E gives Missouri voters the chance to block the creation of an insurance exchange, which is an important part of the federal law. If this proposition passes, Missouri politicians cannot set up this exchange without approval from the state legislature and the voting public.

Both candidates use different language when talking about health care policies. The most obvious difference between their rhetoric is the way they refer to the ACA. Spence refers to the law as “Obama Care” following the trend of republicans trying to mock the act and give it a negative connotation. Spence also uses terms such as the act being a burden and a federal intrusion. By using such negative phrases, Spence hopes to make the act sound unappealing and bad for Missouri.

Spence is clearly on the attack, both against Nixon and the act. As in most of the issues we have looked at, Spence must be on the offensive and show how Nixon is failing and why he is the better option.

Nixon stays more positive about the act, calling it by it’s proper name. But where Spence is very clear on his stance and rhetoric against the ACA, Nixon is not. Nixon has been called out several times for being vague when talking about healthcare. He has gone on record saying he only agrees with some parts of the act. To combat these attacks Nixon tries not to talk about the ACA at all and just sticks to his plans to give everyone the opportunity to have affordable health insurance.

Nixon’s avoidance of the topic of the ACA leads back to his stance against some of the mandates in the law. These views stray away from the party views and Nixon does not want to alienate his Democratic supporters. Another reason is that Nixon can potentially be seen as a flip-flopper, changing his stances to sway undecided voters. If he is seen this way it can have a serious impact on his credibility and turn voters away from him.

Spence has attacked Nixon several times for his vague health policy views, calling him a hypocrite. Spence is taking advantage of Nixon’s weak rhetoric and turning it against him which also affects Nixon’s credibility. In this situation Nixon cannot rely on his status as the incumbent because both his opponent and the media have called him out and caused these threats to his credibility. So far, Nixon has only acknowledged these threats by saying that he has been clear on his stance.

When it comes to referring to the ACA in journalism, journalists can be seen using the proper name and Obama Care.  Even when an article calls the ACA by its name, somewhere in the article the phrase Obama Care can still found. This is even more prevalent among bloggers.  The Republican use of the term has caught on and is still used in a negative way in most cases. There are people who just find the phrase catchy. Republicans have managed to influence media personalities into using Republican terminology to the point where the term is an accepted synonym for the ACA. This is one example on how politicians and their rhetoric have an impact on the way the media covers a story and the terminology that is used.