| 英文摘要 |
Why did the Trump administration try to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)? And why did the Trump administration’s attack on ACA almost succeed but fail in the end? As Historical Institutionalism expects, a self-reinforcing feedback effect is generated through path dependency, but it cannot fully explain why it was still challenged. Also, Historical Institutionalism cannot explain why the Trump administration, which controlled Congress, failed to repeal and replace ACA. This paper pointed that ACA produced not only self-reinforcing feedback but also self-undermining feedback. Under the political mobilization and the emergence of alternative bills, the victims of ACA started to oppose ACA and created a critical juncture. However, some Republican state governors, public opinion, and interest groups shifted to support ACA. Most importantly, since the Republican senators failed to reach a consensus on alternative bills, the Trump administration missed the critical junction to repeal ACA. |
