Timeline: Affordable Care Act
Key events in the past and future of Obamacare.
Fall 2008: Presidential candidate Barack Obama says, “On health care reform, the American people are too often offered two extremes — government-run health care with higher taxes or letting the insurance companies operate without rules. … I believe both of these extremes are wrong.” Obama wins the presidency a week later.
March 2009: President Obama convenes a “health summit” with doctors, insurers, drug companies, consumers advocates and lawmakers. “The status quo is the one option that is not on the table,” the new president says. He appoints Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who has a history of clashes with the insurance industry, to run the federal Health and Human Services agency. She also heads the White House Office for Health Reform.
Nancy Pelosi speaker of House
July 2009: House Democrats unveil their 1,000-page plan for overhauling the health care system. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (pictured), an ally of Obama’s, says: “When I take this bill to the floor, it will win. This will happen.” House committees begin crunching the details and voting on provisions.
August 2009: Lawmakers go home to find walls of worry erected over “Obamacare.” One lawmaker says citizens are “shell-shocked” over the many changes in the first eight months of Obama’s administration.
Nov. 7, 2009: The House approves its version of health care reform in a 220-215 vote. One Republican votes for the bill. Passage was far from certain — a last-minute compromise limiting federal funding for abortion services cleared the way.
Dec. 24, 2009: The Senate approves its version of the health care overhaul in a 60-39 party-line vote. Democrats have to break a GOP filibuster. The bill’s passage confirms majority agreement in both chambers of Congress.
