How do the three branches of the U.S. government impact healthcare today?

It is not usual for all three branches of the federal government to impact health care in important ways.  However, in recent years, all three branches have.  This is because of the continuing controversy over the programs typically known as “Obamacare.”

In general, it is the two elected branches that affect health care.  Congress is the body that enacts health care policy for the nation as a whole.  This means, for example, that Congress decides what the parameters of the Medicare and Medicaid programs will be.  Recently, it meant that Congress passed Obamacare, creating a new national health insurance regime that is changing the health care system in our country.  It means that, Congress could repeal Obamacare and replace it with some different system.

The executive branch affects health care in at least three ways.  Right now, because President Obama is still in office, the executive branch prevents Congress from repealing Obamacare.  President Obama could and would veto any bill that repealed or replaced his signature accomplishment.  However, President Obama will soon leave office.  When he does, his successor will get to decide whether he or she wants to keep protecting the program since the Congress (which will presumably remain in Republican hands) will still want to repeal it.  The executive branch also affects health care because the president tends to lead public opinion on this issue.  In order to get an alternative to Obamacare, we would probably need a new president to propose and really push a new system.  This means that the identity of the president really helps to determine what kind of system will be proposed.  Finally, the executive branch actually runs the national health care system (those parts that are run by the government).  Because it does this, it affects the way the system works every day.

The judicial branch usually has little to do with health care since health care is not usually connected to major legal and constitutional issues. However, the Supreme Court has recently had to decide whether various parts of Obamacare are constitutional.  It has had to decide on things like whether the national government can require everyone to have health insurance or whether the government can require businesses to provide their employees with insurance programs that cover contraceptives.  Because Obamacare is so controversial, the judicial branch has had to decide which parts of it are constitutional.  In these ways, all three branches effect health care in the US today.